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kookie-doughs · 3 years

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Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 1: THE BEGGINING OF IT ALL

It was quite dark in my room. Unclear of what's happening... Of what's going on... But one thing is clear to me... Someone is calling me from somewhere. Tossing and turning doesn't help the anxiety building up at the pit of my stomach. Come to me I'm scared... Dont be scared. I would never hurt you Who are you? Fall... With me... I don't want to hear you anymore... We'll rule as one.... This is just a dream... Denying won't keep me... This is not real... We are one... I'm hearing things...

Tears pricked my eyes and I shot up trembling. As I thought all of those were just a dream. With what little time have I caught my breath. My alarm stared ringing 6 minutes after I woke up. D/N, my dog, nudged my hand and looked at me with his worried eyes. "I'm good boy... I'll be good. Today's the class trip... I have to be good." I ran down stairs to see my mom cooking breakfast. "Hey there sweetie. You excited for the trip~?" She sang. I reluctantly nodded. "Yeah..." As mom set D/N's bowl she turned to me with a worried look. "You sure? Your enthusiasm sure tells me how excited you are." "Will D/N be coming with me?" On cue my dad already in his suit came down and gave my head a kiss. "Of course sweetie. He's a support animal, they have no choice." He smiled. Taking a pancake from the plate, he didn't bother adding butter nor syrup and bit it like bread. "Anyways, I gotta go. Have fun at your trip. And I'll see you after work." He gave me and my mom a kiss then left. "Start eating. We have to make sure you don't miss your bus." ~ The bus was noisy. Everyone is screaming and laughing loudly. I sat at the very front with Mrs. Rudolph. She's my history teacher and our class adviser. She looks like a grumpy old witch lady who eats children, but her personality is far from that. Which seems to be not enough for my classmates as they're very bratty in her class. D/N was currently laid on Mrs Rudolph's lap as she gently pet him. "Are we close yet Mrs Rudolph?" I asked. She gave me a smile, "yes quite close. In fact, it reminds me to remind you kids something." Picking up D/N from her lap she gently placed him on mine and stood up. "Attention!!" She yelled immediately changing from her soft demeanor. They kids instantly settled down and kept quiet. "Good, now... Is everyone aware of where we'll be going?" "Yes Mrs Rudolph..." We all reply. "And where are we going?" No one answered. I could sense she was about to get mad so I answered on my own. "Metropolitan museum of art..." "Good job Y/N!" She smiled at me and glared at the others. "We'll, I'd like to remind you lot that we won't be touring alone. Another school will be joining us, Yancy Academy! Now I wouldn't be the one supervising the tour, it'll be Yancy Academy's Latin teacher, so we need to show them we are capable and proper. I'm putting Y/N L/N in charge of the group. Listen to what she says and do participate when asked." Whispers started coming once again. I've always been Mrs Rudolph's favorite. It's not like she has a choice, I'm the only proper one among her students after all. "Keep quiet!" In an instant the whispering died. "I will not hear anything from your mouths about Y/N being in charge! She'll have the same power as I! If you have a problem speak louder and say it to me! Understand?!" "Y-Yes Mrs Rudolph..." The bus then stopped moving. "Y/N..." Mrs Rudolph rested an arm on my shoulder. "Lead them." She smiled and went out. I cleared my throat. "E-Everybody file ou-out properly an-and orderly... P-please." Grumbles and mumbles came from them as they did what I said. Once everyone was out I got out. I had D/N in my arms. The first thing I did as I got out was examine everything. From the distance, you could see the students who I assume are from Yancy Academy. A particular group had caught my eyes. A redheaded girl was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in a guy's curly brown hair, his friend was clearly agitated by what's happening and had balled his fist. "Y/N L/N." Mrs Rudolph called snapping me out from the trance. "H-Here!" "Okay so everyone is here. Remember, Y/N L/N is in charge. Now go mix with the Yancy kids." Mrs Rudolph clapped and almost immediately everyone ran towards the group. She walked up to me and pointed at D/N. "Dogs aren't allowed inside sweetie I'm sorry. We tried telling them." A whimper came from my boy as he scoot closer to my chest. "It'll be fine boy. W-would you... Mind?" "Not at all. I was going to offer after all." She smiled and took D/N from me. "Now run along and make friends. He'll be with you by lunch." I turned to see my classmates only to see them instantly making friends with the strangers. I could never do that. Getting closer I searched curly brown haired guy and his friends. A man had called our attention by clearing his throat, not giving me the chance to find curly guy. It was a middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket. "Everybody file." I said which thankfully they followed. "Hello to everyone." He gave us a comforting smile. "I'm Mr. Brunner, Yancy Academy's Latin teacher. I was told Y/N L/N will be in charge of your group?" I stepped up and greeted him. "All right. Well, feel free to mix in with the group. We'll be staying for a while." He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was listening to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, only one kid had been trying to keep them quiet and he keeps getting glares from someone who looks like Mrs Rudolph every time. Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, a snicker came from behind, and a kind of loud reply of, "Will you shut up?" Came. The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. The guy who had said shut up was the friend of curly. "Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "did you have a comment?" His face was totally red and he said, "No, sir." Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" I looked at the carving, and back at the guy who looked relived. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" "Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..." "Well... Kronos was the king god, and—" "God?" Mr. Brunner asked. "Oh uh..." He stammered. Obviously his one mistake got rid of all the information he remembered of the image. "Titan," I reminded him a little too loudly. They all had turned on me. "Ms L/N, care to help Mr Jackson?" "I-I, he knows... I don't..." I turned to Mr Jackson who looked at me as if he needed help. When he mouthed please I gulped. "H-He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them..." As if he had a moment of epiphany, Mr Jackson looked at me and Mr Brunner. "Can you continue on Mr Jackson?" "Okay, Kronos's wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—" "Zeus fed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him puke his other five children, who were immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach." I interrupted... Oh god was that rude? "Eeew!" said one of the girls behind us. "—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," he continued, "and the gods won." "The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld." I continued. Some snickers from the group. Behind us, the red haired girl mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'" "And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?" "Busted," curly guy muttered. "Shut up," Ms Bobofit hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair. I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir." "I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "How about you Ms L/N?" I shook my head frantically not sure of what to say. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson, Ms L/n, You both did well. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, Mrs Rudolph, would you lead us back outside?" The class drifted off, the class still mixed with the other. "Want to join us for lunch?" Mr Jackson offered scratching his head. "Uhm..." My face was heating up I never had friends before. I was about to reply when I heard a loud whimper from outside. It was D/N's cry. "I'm sorry." I said and ran towards the sound. They were about to follow when Mr. Brunner called, "Mr. Jackson." Running outside I searched for D/N. "Hey boy, where are you?!" I called. Not long after I found him by the fountain alone. "Oh god, what are you doing here alone? Why were you crying? Weren't you with Mrs Rudolph?" I cradled him in my arms and lied on the grass. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Red hairedgirl was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Rudolph was with her look alike. "Hey," someone had looked down on me. "Sorry I ran. I heard D/N cry..." "Percy, Percy Jackson." He smiled. "Huh?" "I'm Grover Underwood." Curly beamed. "O-Oh... I'm Y/N L/N, this is D/N." He barked in response to the introduction. "Really?!" Grover looked at D/N in surprise. "Can I borrow him?! Please??" Me and Percy looked at him weirdly but I handed him D/N anyways. Grover sat on the edge of the fountain, and Percy and I close enough but not an earshot away. "Detention?" I asked. "Huh?" "Did you get left behind for detention?" I asked him. "Nah," he said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius. He thinks I know everything about Mythology and stuffs." "I think you are." I smiled at him. "You're pretty smart." "Yeah, well this genius is dyslexic." He smirked. "No way." "Way." "I am too!!" "What?" "Okay we're totally dyslexic twins now." I chuckled. "Totally." Being the awkward kid I am my stomach had to growl. "Want to have my apple?" I felt awkward and took his apple. "Thanks." We watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and had small talks about random stuffs, we ranged our topic from his past schools, to his mom, Nancy Bobofit the mean redhead, and Mrs Dodds his mathematics teacher. Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table. Percy was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap where D/N sat. "Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos D/N tackled her down, not biting her but barking at her not letting her up. And Percy tried to held his laughter in. Nancy screamed at D/N and tried to hit him. When she had successfully hit him she glared at me then the dog. "This stupid dog!" She then kicked him. When his whimper came out. "Hey?! What do you think you're doing!?" I screamed. "You don't know how to control your stupid dog!" "You dumped your lunch on him he had every right to mount you!" Grover had D/N now cradled in his arms. My teeth were gritting at the sight of this redhead. I was about to lift my hand on her. I don't remember what happened clearly, but I was pretty sure the water grabbed her, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!" "No he didn't you liar!!" Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—" "—the water—" "—like it grabbed her—" I didn't care about the whispers. All I knew was that Percy was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on Percy. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if he'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—" "He didn't do anything! Why are you punishing him?! Weren't you watching what was happening?!" I glared at her. Staring straight in her eyes. I don't know where I got this confidence and everything but I am starting down the teacher Percy is most scared of and winning. "I'd like to apologize for the bad conduct my student had affected yo---" "Nancy Bobofit is in the wrong not Percy! She. Hurt. My. Dog." I could hear the poison laced in my words. Mrs Rudolph came to me, "sweetie, let's go back in the bus. We have to leave." She took D/N from Grover and dragged me away from the scene. "But----" "Ms. L/N, we'll miss the schedule. Let's go." As if D/N knew he jumped off from Mrs Rudolph's hold and ran. "D/N!!" I didn't bother saying anything to Mrs Rudolph and ran after him. "Y/N!!" She tried calling after. I had lost D/N a few times and I found him. He was barking and growling at something. I went to check and saw Percy swing a sword at a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs... She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. "Percy?" I called. His sword was gone and there was a ballpoint pen in his hand. His hands were still trembling. "W-Was th-that... D-did..." "Percy," I slowly walked up to him and pulled him to a comforting hug. "Calm down. Breathe. I... Also saw that. You're not imagining things alone." We went back outside. D/N leading us. It had started to rain. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt." I said, "Who?" "Our teacher. Duh!" We blinked. "We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr." Percy said. He asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. We went over to Grover to ask where Mrs. Dodds was. He said, "Who?" But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at Percy, so we thought he was messing with us. "Not funny, man," he told him. "This is serious." "I am concerned as well..." Grover looked at me in surprise. "A-about what?" "About... Mrs Dodds? Percy and I saw something really disturbing." Thunder boomed overhead. Percy then let go of me and went over to Mr. Brunner who hasn't moved from his spot. I immediately followed after. He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson." Percy handed Mr. Brunner his pen. "Sir," he said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?" He stared at him blankly. "Who?" "The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." I added. He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, Y/N, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?" "W-What?" "And Y/N, Mrs Rudolph is very worried about you. You just ran away all of a sudden. Your bus is about to leave." I turned to Percy reluctantly. "I'll walk you..." "This... Can't be a real..." I gasp. "Okay if this is real, then we'll never meet again and we were really just imagining things and this is a coincidence." "Agreed..." "Percy, I know what I saw. I know what I remember. We'll meet again, and when we do... I have a feeling it'll be weirder." "I'll look forward to it."

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Taglist?

#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson X Reader #Fanfiction #Y/N L/N and the halfbloods #Y/N L/N #Book 1 #Lightning thief #Chapter 1 #Percy Jackson X Y/N #X Reader

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spitefulqueenofdemons · 3 years

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https://spitefulqueenofdemons.tumblr.com/post/643713435650113536/sleep-deprived part 2

Pushing Up Daisies chapter 3

Tw: language, murder, guns, cops, mentions of drugs

Word count: 1373

Summary: After having woken up tied to a chunk of concrete under water and doing an unspeakable act (for your survival??) You find yourself out of options and people to help. Well almost, the only one you think might be able to help is the one who got you in this situation in the first place

After a long shower and several hours on the internet searching for anything that could tell you what was going on. Apart from a few hundred movies and books with undead content the most concrete actual zombie anything you could find was mostly about the voodoo dust that people used to put others under control. And back in the 18, and 1900s people accidentally being buried alive.

There was virtually nothing about zombies in Seattle. All you knew for sure was what had happened to you. You confronted Blaine, he grabbed you, shot you, dumped you in a lake and you woke up you dont know how long after underwater with no need to breath.

As you thought and absently read yet another article about 'Haitian Zombies' you rubbed your hand against your wrist that Blaine had grabbed you with. The scratch marks on your arm were as faint as old scars but you could feel them still.

And just like that realization hit. The red eyes made sense. Blaine was a zombie, and that lady who was working the front counter probably was too. It had to be some sort of virus or something that could be transferred through scratch. The teenager in you was thrilled that zombies were real and not mindless corpses that just wandered around destroying everything it came across. Sure when you first emerged from the lake you couldnt control yourself and killed that poor innocent man but you were literally starving.

Perhaps that was the down side. The hunger is enough to blind you from any moral standing. Even more unfortunate, you didnt know how long what brains you did eat earlier would keep you satiated and you didnt have a way to get more without committing more murder. You didnt know anything about the zombieism other than the scratch causes it.

You really only had an one option. Go back to Blaine. He had options. Once you got there he could kill you, or turn you away, or kill you. You had gone in only, according to your microwave, 8 hours ago guns blazing accusing him of being a utopium dealer. How could you expect him to help.

Now you also knew you couldnt go to the police. As an officer you knew they would either freak out or hide it. And by hiding it you knew that would mean hiding you, IE killing you and sweeping it under the rug. They might turn you over to some higher part of the government. The type that does a bunch of invasive and usually very painful experiments and research.

You could just drop it. Leave town and change your name. But then again that brings up the issue of how will you eat? Murder is just too horrible an option for you. Grave robbing coukd be viable but half decomposed chemically drowned brain is almost as bad as the moral stand still of murder.

Deciding on your course of action you breezed to your closet, choosing a simple black hoodie, dark jeans and boots, and a ball cap to hide your snowy hair to wear. You grabbed a glock 19. Not the gun you had when you went to visit Blaine in the first place. That one was gone, probably in Debeers' personal stash now. This time though if he pulled so would you.

Without a vehicle, you assumed it would no longer be parked where you left it in front of MEATchute, you were instead forced to catch a bus to the opposite side of town. The open sign was off but you could see people behind the counter. It looked like they were counting the drawer.

You beat on the glass with an open palm, hard enough for it to make a lot of noise but not hard enough to shatter the glass. The older woman from when you first came was the one to open the door. She looked like she had seen a ghost, but still somehow like she didnt care.

"Cant you read the sign? We are closed. That means you dont have to go home but you sure as shit cant stay here." She half growled.

You rolled your eyes, half willing to punch her in the face if she wanted to get cocky. "Move. Wheres Debeers?" You demanded, eyes flashing past the stumpy woman and to the counter where a large man with dark hair stood sizing you up. "You," you said. You recognized him as one of the names that gave a name that then gave you Debeers. "You work for him. I shouldnt be surprised."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Cissie, let her through." The man said. He looked like a knock off version of Patrick Warburton. "You are supposed to be dead little lady. You got lungs of steal or are you one of us?"

You scoffed, wanting to hit them all. You knew it wasnt a part of the zombieism either. These fuckers were all instrumental in your death. That enough was reason for a slight beating. "I got nothing to say to you Julian. I'm here for Blaine and I'm not leaving till I get to talk to him." You demanded, stomping up to the counter.

The man sighed as if this was one of the last things he wanted to deal with. "Well he isnt here but I'll call him. See if he wants to talk to you. Follow me." He said, gesturing to you.

Not exactly happy, but pleased you were getting what you want, you followed the man behind the counter. He took you further into the building and finally into a room off the kitchen that actually looked like a real office. The large mahogany desk was a mess with files and papers, on top of them all was the stolen file from your apartment. There was a few random art pieces.

"Wait here. Someone will be by soon." He instructed, leaving you in the room alone. Trusting that you wouldnt snoop. Normally you would but this situation was not the time. You needed help, and had already pissed off two of the three people you knew had a hand in that. Snooping through Blaine's real office would be like flipping the bird after you already spit on and slapped someone. Definitely not a good idea on your part.

It took less than 20 minutes before the door opened again and a familiar blond haired blue eyed gangster opened the door. "Ah Detective. What an unpleasant surprise. I didnt know you walked amongst the undead." He said with an air of genuine shock. "When Julian told me I really didnt believe him. You took those bullets like a mortal. What happened?"

You laid out your wrist on the desk, the marks almost completely gone. He crossed to the other side and sat down, moving the little lamp that was sitting at the corner of the table. He shone the lamp over my arm and the little pink marks showed up.

Blaine 'tsk'ed. "Was it me?" He had a fake look of disgust on his face. "It was me wasnt it. Damn it, I knew I shouldnt have blown off my manicure appointment this morning." He shook his head. "Thats why you arent dead. You gotta be starving though. Would you like a snack? Pudding? Crackers and cheese? Brains?" He questioned.

You looked at the mark on your wrist in the light, your jaw clenched a little. "No thanks I already ate, but that is part of what I would like to discus."

At that his eyes widened with actual shock. "Um, you already ate? Did you kill someone or dig up a body?" When I didnt answer he nodded knowingly. "You killed someone. Oh I bet that was a sight. Sorry about the cinderblock by the way. I didnt think you would be waking up. Im sure it wasnt the best alarm."

You scoffed, a little thankful he stopped asking about your food source. "Waking up underwater was definitely a new experience, but then again so far my whole evening has been new experiences." You told him.

"Well, allow me to formally welcome you to the land of Zombies. I'll explain everything."

#fanfic #zombies #zombie #romance #blaine #blaine debeers #blaine x reader #liv moore #olivia moore #peyton charles #ravi chakrabarti #dirty cops #cops #acab

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ggukcangetit · 4 years

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Dreamcatchers 6

Pairing: jungkook x oc

Summary: DI Jeon didn’t need a new partner. Unfortunately, his superiors felt otherwise; especially considering the extremely high-profile murder that had just taken place in the port city. Recent transfer, DI Choi Yuri finds herself confronted with a new cityscape, unfamiliar people, a hostile partner, and a homicide that is certain to bring back unpleasant memories.

Genre/AU: fluff/action/mystery | detective! au | police!jungkook, police!oc

Word Count: 5.2k

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: mentions of violence, alcohol, blood, drugs, death. basically stuff you’d associate with a murder mystery/crime drama.

Chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

A/N: it’s been a while since i posted and even longer since i updated this fic but its still here and so am i! lol. updates are not gonna be very frequent but i have a list of works in progress that i plan to finish so there will be something or the other being posted at the most random moments.

also, reminding everyone that this story features a named oc because i’m still very unfamiliar with writing second person reader inserts. i’m not aiming for strict accuracy in this story, and all criminal investigation/forensics knowledge i have has been gathered by watching crime drama/procedural dramas! my knowledge of geography is also not totally accurate so apologies for that. once again, one thing right by @hobios prompted me to write a police inspector! jungkook story. would highly recommend reading that because it’s probably one of my most favorite pieces of writing!

21st December

"Is this how you conduct a sample analysis?! Where did you even train? I've half a mind to report you and get you kicked out!!"

Yuri stopped at her desk, surprised to hear Seulgi's yelling so loudly that she could be heard all the way from the floor above. She was usually extremely calm and even-tempered, but the past couple of days had seen her irritable, snappy, and downright furious.

"Dr. Ahn sounds really angry," whispered Jisoo, clutching a file close to her chest. "I've never heard her yell at anybody before. I hope she's okay."

"I'm sure everything's fine," said Jeon, walking over to his desk and dropping a bunch of files on it. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Yuri raised an eyebrow at him, but complied nonetheless. They walked outside, standing near a clump of trees outside of earshot of anyone in the station.

"Guess who I've just brought in on suspicion of murder for the 2nd Nov case?" he asked, lowering his voice.

"No!" gasped Yuri. "Minhyuk?"

"Yep. He's been in the country for a while now. Fancy giving me a hand with the interview?"

"Me? I mean," she bit her lip. "I wasn't part of the original investigation."

"I know, but in light of what you've found out and the fact that you're now my partner, Goh thinks it's okay."

"You told Goh?!"

"I had to. I can't restart the investigation without his permission."

Jeon stared at her for a few moments, trying to gauge her reaction. "So, what do you say?"

"Alright. Let's nail this bastard."

Ahreum was late. She had a meeting with one of her professors to decide on which medical stream she'd specialize in. Despite using forensics as an excuse to distract Seulgi, she was seriously considering it now. Deciding to pursue medicine had been a drastic career switch for Ahreum, and a lot of people had questioned her decision relentlessly. But if there was something she had learnt in the years following her parents' divorce, it was patience and the ability to block out irrelevant conversations. Namjoon had always been immersed in his studies, barely affected by the bitterness existing between their parents. Ahreum, barely in high school, felt lost and helpless during those times. After the divorce, things had become less tumultuous and she was able to see her parents as individual entities. That was when she realized that her father was never going to like any of her decisions, no matter how hard she tried to please him, and her mother preferred to stay aloof at the best of times. Ahreum learnt pretty early in life, that she needed to be there for herself. She loved her brother and parents, though the latter a lot less than the former. Her decision to study English Literature and Creative Writing had been a spur of the moment one - dictated more by the fact that her high school boyfriend was going to study at a major Arts university. She didn't really regret any of her decisions. Her degree had led her to finding a hobby she adored - photography. And having a freelance job meant that she could stay with Namjoon - who earned a significantly larger amount than her - and move whenever he needed to move as well. This was also how she had met Taehyung 3 years ago - a happy coincidence of events when she had been taking pictures outside the museum at Seoul. They had started talking about art and photography, eventually realizing that they lived in the same part of the city. In addition to Yuri, she also considered Taehyung to be her best friend. She had seen him during one of his lowest moments when Seokjin had left home; and then some time later when he had found Seokjin living in the town Ahreum and Namjoon had recently shifted to, she had stayed by him as he grappled with his anger and frustration towards his older brother until an eventual reconciliation.

But at this moment, she was beginning to lose patience with him. Five minutes before she was about to leave for her meeting, she received a bunch of frantic texts from him.

8.25 am

T: ahreum?? are u up??

T: jimins still in custody

T: im so worried

8.26 am

T: u there?

T: i want to visit him...

T: will u come with me?

8.27 am

T: hey

T: ???

T: i didnt sleep much so i dont wanna drive there

8.28 am

T: are u sleeping?

T: ???

He knew she had a meeting today. He knew how important the meeting was for her. She had spoken about it many times. Not for the first time, Ahreum wondered whether Taehyung cared about her beyond what directly concerned him. If it wasn't somehow relevant to him, he never seemed to remember much. It was a careless apathy that had hurt her during the beginning of their friendship, but she had accepted it as a part of him.

Her meeting was at 9 am and she usually needed 20 minutes to get there on her bike. She closed her eyes and mentally rehearsed the points she was going to bring up during her meeting. Her phone pinged once more, breaking her concentration.

8.30 am

T: hey

T: can u pick me up?

She frowned and shot a quick text before pocketing her phone and strapping on her helmet.

A: sorry have a meeting... talk later

As Ahreum sped through the narrow lanes, she was convinced that there was no way she was going to talk to Taehyung today. He would have to manage on his own for once.

Yuri and Jeon sat across from a very nervous Park Minhyuk, his bloodshot eyes indicating that he had been brought in after a rough night.

"Good morning." Jeon began the interview, his notes stacked neatly in front of him. "You were very hard to get a hold of, Mr. Park. Specifically because your company categorically states that you've been out of the country for business."

"I-" His face was white as a sheet.

"When we called your office, we were told that you are often out of the country on business trips. Short trips," Jeon flipped through his notes. "A fortnight, 20 days at max. Your secretary was very obliging - he told us that you traveled on October 12th and returned on October 27th. Then left the country again on November 1st and returned on November 16th. Another trip between November 22nd and December 6th. And finally, one more on December 10th from which you still haven't returned."

"Your phone records are very interesting, Mr. Park," said Yuri, joining in. "I'm DI Choi, by the way, and I will be assisting DI Jeon as his partner on the case. Now -" she opened the file in front of her and took out a particular page - "is this your cell phone number?"

"Yes, but-"

"Our Telecomms division looked over recent activity over the last 3-4 months. While your office confirms that you have been on multiple trips out of the country from October onwards, your phone has been operating in Korea for almost two months. Can you tell us why?"

Minhyuk remained silent, his hands clenched on the table.

"Do you recognize this?" Yuri placed a plastic bag on the table and moved it towards him.

The remaining color drained from Minhyuk's face as he stared at the ring inside the plastic bag.

"Let me help you out, Mr. Park," she continued. "This is an heirloom from your mother's side of the family. There was three such rings - one buried with your mother, one on your brother's finger, and one found at the scene of Son Eunbi's murder. Can you tell us how your ring found its way to a murder scene?"

"I didn't kill her!" Minhyuk looked like he was going to pass out. Jeon poured some water into a glass and passed it to him.

"She was dead when I got there!" he said after gulping down the water. His hands were shaking by this point.

"If she was dead when you got there, why didn't you call the police?"

"I..."

Faced with a possible murder charge, Minhyuk looked frightened but not nearly as forthcoming with an alibi as one would have hoped.

"Mr. Park," Yuri spoke after a period of silence. "Did you know that Ms. Son had a three year old daughter named Gina?"

Minhyuk gulped, his eyes breaking contact with hers. He removed his hands from where they had been clenched on the table, choosing to hide them in his lap.

"Are you Gina's father?" she continued. Minhyuk head shot up at her question.

"H-how did-"

"When did you find out?" she asked.

Minhyuk sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I guess there's no point in denying it since you know everything." He reached out and finished the remaining water in the glass. "In October, after I came back from a trip, I happened to meet her by chance and Gina was with her. It was odd, the way that she tried to avoid talking to me. And the fact that Gina also had clear grey eyes."

For the first time since the interview started, Yuri realised the resemblance between the Park brothers was limited but striking. Their eyes were the exact same shade of grey - while Jimin looked cold and unwelcoming, Minhyuk's glasses did well to give him a warmer appearance.

"I asked her why she hadn't contacted me when she got pregnant. Or in the three years since Gina was born."

"What did she say?" asked Yuri, softly.

"She was scared that I wouldn't believe her." Tears had started to roll down his cheeks. "I loved her... so much. And then she just disappeared one day. I tried so hard to find her but..."

Jeon poured another glass of water for him.

"I told her how happy I was to hear about Gina. That I wanted us to be a proper family. I was willing to do whatever was necessary if that's what she wanted as well. I think she was beginning to warm up to the idea. I even told my father to postpone my next trip so that I could spend a little more time with both of them. But-"

"But?"

Minhyuk stared at his hands, looking tired and dejected. "He - uh, he wasn't happy when he heard about Gina. My father has very particular expectations."

"What did he say to you? Did he threaten you, Mr. Park?"

Minhyuk let out a soft chuckle. "My father doesn't threaten. He suggests."

"And what did he suggest you do about Gina and Eunbi?" asked Jeon.

"That I stay away from them. For the sake of my inheritance."

"And did you?"

"I was planning to... I-I was meant to travel the next day and I thought I would go and see her once more before I left. But when I got there..."

Minhyuk covered his face with his hands, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself.

"What happened when you got there, Mr. Park?"

"She was lying there... in a pool of blood. Gina was asleep in the back. I-I didn't kill her. You have to believe me."

Yuri and Jeon exchanged a quick look as Minhyuk protested his innocence. They were aware that the homeless man had killed Son Eunbi. The DNA found at the crime scene confirmed the fact that he had stabbed her. But they needed Minhyuk to give them as much information as possible.

"I'm afraid we do not conduct our investigations based on belief, Mr. Park," continued Yuri, shuffling her notes meaningfully. "You still haven't provided us with an alibi for that night. Strange thing - the Park family seem to have a particular aversion towards providing alibis. Your brother was also extremely resistant when we spoke to him."

"You spoke to Jimin? What for?" Minhyuk's expression had changed completely. He looked strangely alert.

"I guess you aren't aware that Jimin was arrested for the murder of Kang Eunwoo on December 15th." Jeon spoke deliberately, hoping to elicit a reaction. And he was successful.

"What?! That's impossible! There's no way he could've done that!"

"Why are you so certain of that?"

"Because he was with me on December 15th!"

"I'm sorry but we can't take you at your word. You can't even provide a proper alibi for yourself on the night of Son Eunbi's murder. How can we be sure that the two of you aren't just covering up for each other?"

It was then that Minhyuk realised that he would need to come clean. There was no way to save Jimin without telling them the entire story.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll tell you everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes. If it can help Jimin, I'm willing to risk my father finding out."

Yuri glanced at Jeon who gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

"Go on."

"After I saw Eunbi... lying there, I couldn't leave Gina. No matter what my father had said, I couldn't leave my daughter in such a situation. So I... took her away with me."

"Where is Gina now, Mr. Park?" Yuri asked, frowning.

"She's safe."

"Where is she?" asked Jeon, sharply.

"In Busan. I have an apartment there and she's been with me since that day."

"Why didn't you tell the police that you had her? Why does your company believe that you are abroad on a business trip?"

Minhyuk rubbed his eyes tiredly and drank some more water. "I couldn't let my father find out. Jimin and I have an apartment in Busan that we bought under a different name. It was a place our father couldn't find us. Gina's been staying there with me since 2nd November."

"Are you sure your father thinks you're abroad? It doesn't seem like something easy to cover up."

"Jimin helped with that," said Minhyuk, leaning back into the cold metal chair. "He told father that I had run away because he hadn't been understanding of my situation with Gina and Eunbi. Jimin's good at convincing people - it's a talent he's barely ever put to good use."

"So Jimin knew that you were hiding in a secret apartment with your recently discovered daughter?"

"Yes, he did. I have an alibi for 2nd November. I was in a meeting till 9 pm and then stopped for drinks at a nearby fried chicken place till 11 pm. I was a bit tipsy after that, which is why I decided to visit Eunbi and Gina. After taking Gina away from there, I went to Jimin's place, got the keys to the apartment and drove straight there. I think I reached around 2 am."

Yuri jotted down all this information, making a note to check on every new detail that had been mentioned.

"What about December 15th? You said Jimin was with you. Why?" asked Jeon, folding his arms across his chest.

"We meet once a week to make sure everything is going okay," said Minhyuk, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Sundays are usually the best days for that."

"Where did you meet?"

"At the local ice-cream shop," Minhyuk frowned, trying to remember something. "You know the one near the end of town?"

"The Dairy Berry? Yes, I know which one you're talking about." Jeon gave Yuri a brief nod to confirm that this was a legitimate spot and not something Minhyuk was making up on the spot.

"Gina loves sweet things and I thought it would be easier to take her with me the same day I met Jimin. I think we were there till 10 pm. After that, I dropped Jimin at a bar and drove back home."

"Which bar was this?" asked Yuri.

"Sunset."

"And you drove straight home after that?"

"You can check the dash cam on my car and the security tapes at my apartment building, if you want."

"We definitely will, Mr. Park," said Jeon, surveying him carefully. "In the meantime, you will be in custody until we have verified each and every single thing you just told us. So I suggest you keep yourself hydrated."

Yuri could feel a pair of eyes on her as she spoke to Jisoo and Suho.

"We need to verify everything that Park Minhyuk told us. But there's a lot of ground to cover and we've lost quite a bit of time since the murder of Son Eunbi. So I suggest you recruit some uniformed officers as well." Jisoo jotted down the locations and the times they needed to verify, and nodded to Suho to indicate she had forwarded the details to him. "We need to get the information as soon as possible."

"Will do," said Suho, giving her a reassuring nod.

Yuri waited for them to leave before walking over to the person who had been watching her for a while.

"Did you want to talk about something?" she asked Seulgi.

"I-" Seulgi tugged at her sleek, high ponytail, looking oddly hesitant. She seemed in a better mood than earlier in the morning when she had almost scared one of the interns into leaving the country. "Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah- " Yuri checked the clock on her phone - "just a minute though. I'm waiting for Jeon to get a warrant from Goh."

"Did he-? I mean, Jimin, uh... have you...? You know-" It was strange to see her grappling for words. "Are you certain he's done it?"

Yuri stared at her for a second. This wasn't what she had been expecting Seulgi to talk about. The doctor's relationship with Jimin was even more puzzling than she had originally perceived it.

"We're looking into it right now." She paused, trying to gauge Seulgi's reaction. "But you already know about the blood sample match - that, in itself, is pretty damaging."

"Y-yeah, I know."

Before Yuri could say anything more, Jeon came out of the Chief Inspector's office. "We've got a warrant to search Minhyuk's apartment. Let's go."

Glancing one more time at Seulgi's ashen face, Yuri put on her coat and scarf and followed Jeon out the exit.

Once inside Jeon's car, Yuri debated whether or not she should attempt to engage him in conversation. Her decision was made for her when he drove onto the main road, and lowered the volume of the police scanner.

"What was Seulgi saying?" he asked, his eyes focused on the road.

"Just where we were in the investigation."

"I see."

Yuri fiddled with the button on her coat, itching to say more.

"What's the deal with her and Jimin?" she finally asked.

"I- what do you mean?" Jeon raised his eyebrow and gave her the most puzzled expression he could muster while trying to stay focused on the crazy traffic.

"Their relationship is... weird. He keeps flirting with her, and she is on the verge of ripping his guts out at every given moment. But just now, she seemed almost worried about him."

"I don't really know... they've never really seen eye-to-eye on much." Jeon checked the rear view mirror to make sure he was clear before deftly changing lanes. "Jimin has always been the person who tries his utmost to push everyone's buttons. And Seulgi... well, she has a lot of buttons."

Yuri snorted loudly. "That tells me nothing and everything at the same time. You really have a way with words, Jeon."

He smirked at this, his eyes never leaving the road. "So does that mean you trust me now?"

"No." She looked at him and caught the way his face fell slightly at her response. "But who knows what the future holds..."

The smirk was back.

Ahreum had a terrible headache. She usually didn't get many headaches. So on the rare occasion that she did, it put her in a really terrible mood. The only person who knew how to handle this situation properly was Namjoon. He knew that she needed silence, dim lighting, green tea, fresh bread, and absolutely no unexpected company.

So when Ahreum got home after her grueling 3 hour long meeting, hoping to relax and recuperate, she wasn't too pleased to find Taehyung sitting in her living room, playing a very loud game on his tablet.

"You're back!" he yelled, once she slammed the door to make her presence felt. "I've been waiting for hours. How was your meeting?"

"'S okay," she replied, shortly. Taking off her coat, she opened the middle cabinet in the kitchen and searched for the green tea.

"Great! So do you wanna go and visit Jimin now?"

"No."

"What? Why not? You don't have anything else to do right now. Just come with me. Please!" He had walked into the kitchen and was standing in front of her with a pout on his lips.

As endearing as she always found his antics, Ahreum was at breaking point. She placed the cup on the counter with a loud clink, and turned to face him.

"Because I don't have time to follow you on your every whim, Taehyung. Because I have a life of my own. Because I am studying medicine, which, if you aren't aware, is a very taxing occupation." She paused for a breath, as his mouth fell open in shock. "Because I am not your babysitter. Or your handler. Or your caretaker. And I'm tired of being responsible for you. You're a grown ass adult and it's about time you acted like one."

"Ahreum, I'm-" His eyes were wide and worried, and she felt a tiny sliver of remorse. "I don't think you're my babysitter or handler or whatever. You're my best friend."

"I thought so too. In fact," she said, looking away from him. "I thought we were, or we could be, more."

"W-what? Ahreum?" Taehyung sounded so lost and confused that she was tempted to console him.

She walked to the front door and held it open for him. "I think you should leave now. I'm tired, I have a headache, and I don't want to be around anyone right now."

"Wait! What did you mean by that?" he asked, hesitantly standing at the entrance.

"I'm tired, Taehyung. I don't have the energy to explain everything to you. Now, please," she began closing the door slowly. "I want to rest."

"It's clear!" The uniformed officer confirmed to them, before opening the door further.

"Okay, let's see whether little Gina is here," instructed Jeon, his face drawn into a frown.

Yuri nodded and walked into the room on the left of the large living area. It was a study of sorts, with a large wooden desk, a swiveling chair, and shelves upon shelves of books. She quickly checked to see if there was anyone in the room before shouting "clear!". There was another door connecting to a smaller room, it's walls bathed in bright sunlight and smelling of soft lavender. This was clearly some sort of guest room, judging by the inconsistent decor theme. The furniture looked sleek and modern, but the sheets on the bed were soft and pastel colored. A bunch of soft toys stood leaning against the flat screen tv, and Yuri realised that this was probably the room that had been hastily fixed up for a small child's unexpected stay. And sure enough, soft strands of brown hair peaked through the large covers on the bed.

She walked over to the bed slowly, not wanting to startle the child. Yuri barely managed to stifle a gasp as she looked into the child's clear grey eyes - the same color as both Park Minhyuk and Park Jimin.

"Hello," she said, softly. "Are you Gina?"

The little girl nodded, bringing the covers closer towards her.

"I'm a police officer. I help catch bad people." She didn't respond, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Do you want to go to your dad, Gina?" She nodded vigorously, sitting up at the mention of her father. "Okay, we will. But first, tell me, are you okay? Do you feel pain anywhere?"

The little girl shook her head.

"Are you sleepy?"

Again, she shook her head.

"Are you hungry?"

Slowly, she nodded her head.

"Okay, we'll go and see your dad, and also get you something to eat. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful."

It was just after 2 pm and Yuri felt completely drained. After they had found Gina, she had insisted on returning to the station to ask Jimin about his alibi for the night of Kang Eunwoo's murder. From what she had understood, he had refused to provide an alibi to protect his brother and keep him out of the police's radar until the situation with Gina worked out. Even though she still couldn't get herself to consider him a pleasant person, his desire to protect his brother had humanized him a great deal in her eyes.

Sure enough, once he was made aware that Minhyuk had come forward and spoken about his daughter and the events of the past month and a half, Jimin looked much less hostile than before.

"I was at Sunset from around 10.30 pm to closing time - which is 2 am," he said, sighing tiredly and rubbing his face with his hands. "You can confirm with them."

While Minhyuk and Jimin's alibis were verified, Yuri received a text from Namjoon, asking her and Jeon to meet him at Seokjin's bakery. It was barely a 2 minute drive there, so Jeon suggested they get lunch over there and make it before Goh finished compiling the list of paperwork for them to finish.

The smell of freshly baked milk bread wafted out of the kitchen, adding another layer of warmth to Seokjin's cozy shop. The man in question picked up the large tray filled with various different confections, and brought it over to the table by the window.

"Peach danish and americano for Namjoon, chocolate fudge brownie and vanilla bean ice cream for Jeongguk, and a snow croissant and hot chocolate for Yuri." He placed everything on the table, before grabbing his lukewarm cup of tea and sitting down with them.

"So you finally find the child, then?" asked Seokjin, sipping the tea. He made a face at the odd taste that tea acquires when it's between comfortingly steamy and soothingly chilled.

"Yeah we did," Yuri replied, when her partner remained silent. "Goh is dealing with Minhyuk and the custody charges. It's no longer in our jurisdiction."

"Namjoon, how's grad school treating you?" Seokjin diverted the conversation, realising that his friend wasn't ready to talk about the case at that moment. "How much longer do you have?"

"A few more months and I should be done." Namjoon wiped the pastry flakes from the corner of his mouth and nearly tipped over his americano in the process. Yuri chuckled at this, suddenly remembering those random moments in high school where Namjoon was a lot thinner and less confident, but still had a propensity for knocking things over.

"Remind me why you're putting yourself through this?" Seokjin broke off a piece of the peach danish and popped it into his mouth.

"The last time I tried to explain that, you spaced out and created a new pastry recipe for your menu. As much as I like helping your business flourish, I'm gonna preserve my energy and only talk about things when necessary."

Seokjin chuckled and picked up a spoon from the dispenser. "Jeongguk, can I get a bit of ice cream from you?" There was no response, and looking at him for confirmation Seokjin's eyebrows shot up in alarm.

"Okay okay, I won't eat any of your ice cream. You don't have to tear up about it!"

Yuri and Namjoon turned towards him as well, not sure what to do when they saw tears slowly sliding down Jeongguk's cheeks.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" asked Namjoon, patting his shoulder softly.

They sat in silence, as Jeongguk sobbed softly and wiped his face with his coat sleeve. He turned towards Yuri, his eyes glazed with tears but holding a soft radiance unlike what she was used to.

"Thank you."

Yuri felt her face heat up suddenly. This wasn't what she had been expecting. The soft sincerity in his voice startled her. It was nothing like the person she had met only a week ago. She looked away abruptly and nodded her head.

"There's nothing to thank me for. This is our job."

Jeongguk smiled and resumed eating the disgustingly sweet dessert combination in front of him. He nudged Seokjin to take some ice cream like he had originally intended. There was silence once more, but this time, it was very different.

Back at the station, Yuri finished the paperwork for the day. There was a lot to complete, and since they had stopped at Seokjin's for a break, they had lost some time as well. Goh had been very clear about completing all the paperwork for social services to take over the case from them now that Gina had been found.

It was barely even 5 pm but Yuri felt a large yawn coming on for the third time in the past few minutes. She wasn't sure how long she would be able to carry on without getting proper sleep at night. At this rate, she would eventually burn out. There was only so much coffee could do for her.

A light tap brought her attention to another person standing in her cubicle. She looked up to see Jeon holding two steaming cups of ramen, tilting his head slightly to confirm whether it was okay for him to sit down.

"Did you need anything?" she asked, after moving her slightly. He placed the ramen on her desk and pulled up his own chair and sat down.

"I've got a peace offering," he gestured to the ramen. "I wanted to apologize properly for being an absolute dickhead to you. I-" He hesitated, looking down at his hands that lay clenched on his lap - "I don't really have an excuse for my behavior but I had a lot on my mind. Particularly about finding the little girl. And, well... you really don't know what solving this case means to me."

Once again, Yuri wasn't sure how to react. She felt embarrassed that he was thanking her for doing her job - something that he did as well. While she appreciated his apology, his entire being remained confusing to her.

"Don't worry about it," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "And thanks for the ramen; food is always appreciated."

Thankfully, her computer ping-ed with a new email before the atmosphere could get any more awkward.

"Okay, we've confirmed Minhyuk's alibi's for 2nd November and 15th December. He wasn't involved in either murder. Jimin was with Minhyuk till 10.15 pm on 15th December - his car's dash cam confirms that he dropped Jimin off at Sunset bar around that time."

"Fantastic! And what about the CCTV footage at Sunset? Does it confirm Jimin's story? He said he was there till 2 am."

"Hang on, I'm opening the report. Th-" she stopped abruptly, frowning at the screen.

"What?" asked Jeon, looking over her shoulder to read the email.

"CCTV footage does not place Jimin at Sunset from 10.15 pm till closing time at 2 in the morning. He doesn't have an alibi for Eunwoo's murder."

She turned to look at him, an odd sense of foreboding hitting her as she realized that they would have to charge Jimin for murder by the next evening. He held her gaze, his dark eyes reflecting a similar shadow of doubt.

please reblog and leave a comment if you liked this part! thank you! 😊

#bts fic #jungkook fic #jungkook x oc #jungkook fluff #taehyung #seokjin #namjoon #yoongi #hoseok #bts fluff #bts bookclub #btswritingcafe #bangtanhq #magicshopnet

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akechicrimes · 4 years

Note

Prompt 37? Futaba and Akechi platonic/Futago siblings?

37. “Follow me. It’s okay, just hold my hand.”

after akira leaves tokyo, futaba does just fine without her key item, except for when she doesnt.

(one of them AUs were goro survives the engine room and rejoins the phantom thieves. no i will not explain. persona 5 canon AND persona 5 royal do not interact. for reference in this universe futaba and akechi are half siblings but only akechi knows that)

“Next time you see me, I’ll be a whole new person,” Futaba tells Akira excitedly on his second-to-last day in Tokyo. “I’m going back to school, I’m out and about by myself—oh! Oh! Did I tell you I said yes to Kosei? I told Kosei I wanted to go to Shujin and they offered me scholarship! And I went to the subway station by myself yesterday!”

They’re crammed into Akira’s Leblanc attic, sitting around a cake that literally none of them were capable of baking themselves, so they’d bought the thing from a bakery and decorated it with little black and red hearts. Ryuji is passing around his gross soda, while Ann is recounting some story that doesn’t matter with incredible enthusiasm. Makoto looks like she’s determined to enjoy herself and will hear no argument.

The whole thing is incredibly morbid, if you ask Futaba. It feels less like they’re waiting for Akira to leave Tokyo and more like they’re attending Akira’s funeral. Akechi in particular looks like he’s regretting attending, which honestly tickles Futaba more than it should, that the most dishonest Phantom Thief seems to be the only one looking as honestly put-off by the entire affair as everyone else is determined not to be.

That’s everyone else’s problem. Futaba might not be happy Akira has to leave, but she’s proud. She’s sad that Akira has to leave, but also she promised Akira that by the time that he had to leave, she’d be able to get around on her own, without clinging to him for support. And she is able. She kept her promise.

Tomorrow might be the day that Akira has to go, but today is the day that Futaba is Officially Recovered.

Akira does that annoying thing he does where he puts his hand on her head and messes up all her hair, like he’s a human cat showing affection by pissing everyone off. Futaba yelps. “Look at you. You don’t need me at all.”

“I told you that I’d be ready to say goodbye by the time you had to go back to your hometown,” says Futaba. “I haven’t broken my promises yet, have I?”

There’s a burst of laughter from Haru over something Yusuke said, who looks rather surprised to discover that he said anything funny. Both Makoto and Akechi snicker at him, and then stop immediately to glare at each other the second they realize they’ve accidentally wound up sharing an opinion.

Akira ignores them. “Well, you can still text me if you need me. Or call.”

“I’m trying to tell you I’m getting better and I don’t need you,” Futaba grumbles. “Also, what kind of psychopath do you think I am to call someone on the phone?”

“That’s what phones are for.”

“Calling people is scary.”

“I thought you were getting better?” Akira teases.

“I am!” she says, pointing a finger at him. “I am! Just you watch, Akira. I’m getting better every day.”

Six months after joining Kosei, Futaba locks herself in her room and does not reemerge for seven days straight.

She tells Sojiro that she’s sick. Sojiro tells the school that Futaba told him that she’s sick. She definitely fakes a hell of a good cough, and the school lets Yusuke send her her all the homework that she was supposed to be doing in the first place, but Futaba already knows it’s only a matter of time before Sojiro rats on her, and she won’t even blame him because it’ll be for her own good.

In the meantime, she has stashes of crackers and peanut butter from back when she was a full-time hermit. She hates the taste of peanut butter within three days. Her bed is a relief, soft like a home she never left, up until it isn’t anymore. It’s too soft. No matter how she lies on it, no matter how soft it is, a mattress just isn’t comfortable when you’ve been lying on it for seventy-four hours. It’s hot. Smothering. She feels like she’s going to drown in the blankets and they’ll have to fish her moldy, sweaty corpse out of the bottomless quicksand pit of her too-soft mattress.

The thing about being a shut-in is that you don’t actually like your room very much. It’s not a relief, or an oasis, or even a place you enjoy. You’re just terrified of everywhere else more.

She plays a lot of video games that she doesn’t even like. She watches a lot of Twitch streamers she doesn’t even like. She doesn’t do her homework. She ignores Sojiro. She pretends she’s alright to everyone who texts. She wakes up and goes to sleep and thinks about going outside and goes to sleep and wakes up and wonders if the whole last year and her cautious baby steps back into the world outside was all just a hazy dream.

There aren’t a lot of Thieves left in Tokyo, weirdly. Haru and Makoto both graduated, off doing business and law junk that honestly makes Futaba’s brains want to crawl out her ears, but all the numbers check out and Haru’s not in the red yet, and Futaba’s looked at enough people’s dirty laundry to appreciate Haru’s clean ledger. Akira’s back in his dinky hicktown, where there’s barely anything electronic connected to Wifi worth breaking into for surveillance, which is really boring.

Ann’s been doing so many modeling gigs that she might as well not be attending Shujin anymore. She’s practically surrounded by electronics, and all of them are connected to the internet. On any given day, Futaba can snoop through the internet trail of electronic file cabinets full of images of her face, emails about her face, paychecks for her face. Futaba sends Ann more than one email about creepy old dudes making gross comments about her, along with a bunch of other illegal shit they’ve done, plus their offshore accounts full of cash if Ann wants Futaba to sic a lawyer on them.

Ann looks like she’s having fun. Ann looks different on the other side of the computer screen, like she’s less real. Like she’s not someone Futaba really knows. Like Ann’s not someone Futaba’s literally cried on at one point in her life.

Ryuji is definitely attending Shujin, but between physical therapy, catching up on a whole year of track, athletic scholarship hunting, and studying for college admissions tests, Ryuji seems to have been swallowed whole by Shujin, really. Out of boredom, one day, Futaba went down that rabbit hole of researching what it takes to get recruited for track in college, and holy shit–apparently Ryuji’s coach was supposed to be helping him with that whole process, but of course Ryuji barely has a proper coach ever since Kamoshida left Shujin’s track program in pieces. The amount of networking he’s doing is insane, especially for one teenaged boy who barely remembers his homework every night.

Sometimes, when Ryuji’s forgotten to check his email in a while and there’s a message from a coach sitting in his inbox, Futaba will send him a text to make him check it. And then it’s all, What were you doing looking at my emails, Futaba and Which of my other passwords do you know, Futaba, as if Ryuji doesn’t just use the same password over and over and has literally nobody but himself to blame.

So it’s really just Futaba, Yusuke, and–weirdly–Akechi, who’s off doing his gap year and said he was going to go abroad, but then he never did. Not to be a huge snoop, but Futaba went digging through his junk for about five seconds and then she never did it again, because she felt really weird about finding out that the guy that killed her mom is looking into social work, volunteerism, and reforming the justice system.

Like. The man who killed the Thieves’ leader is now literally out there saving orphans. It’s wild.

She might’ve been the one to tell Akechi that he can start over again and do better, but she reserves the right to at least feel weird about it.

She does not call Akira. She talks to Yusuke at school, but she refuses to ask him to accompany her on the subway. She should be recovered by now, shouldn’t she? She was supposed to have gotten over all that when Akira left Tokyo. She’s doing fine. She’s just looking out for her friends. Her, living vicariously through her friends, who’re growing up and growing away, flourishing into young adults? Never.

Everything is the same.

Didn’t she help kill a god last year?

Didn’t she work so hard to get out of her room, to make friends, to reconnect with Kana-chan?

Didn’t she work so hard to change herself?

Didn’t she help change the world?

Everything is the same.

Tuesday, 1:43 PM

YUSUKE: Futaba?

FUTABA: yo inari

FUTABA: u got more homework for me or what

YUSUKE: Ah, no.

YUSUKE: I think your teacher finds it suspicious that I’m sending you homework when I’m not in your grade, as it is.

FUTABA: oh no

FUTABA: what a shame that we didn’t have an entire year of experience with getting away with wildly illegal magic brain crimes without raising any suspicion

FUTABA: truly emailing me like four pieces of paper a day is far too difficult

YUSUKE: Well, I can’t get your homework from your teacher, but I can give you more homework if you’d like.

FUTABA: ok bucko that wasn’t a challenge

YUSUKE: There’s a math problem set that’s been incredibly dull to get through when I have more important pieces I could be working on…

FUTABA: inari im sorry to say but

FUTABA: me literally doing your homework for you is about a thousand times more illegal than you giving me my homework when ur not in my grade

YUSUKE: Oh, is it?

FUTABA: wh

FUTABA: are y

FUTABA: what do you mean OH IS IT

FUTABA: did you not KNOW ur not allowed to have other ppl do ur hw????

FUTABA: inari have u been making other people do ur hw for u so u can have more time to do art?????????

FUTABA: no shut up i dont want to know

FUTABA: i will not be ur accomplice

FUTABA: i see ur little speech bubble thingamajig yusuke i said stop typing forever and ever

YUSUKE: I can’t invite you to the art gallery tomorrow if I can’t type.

YUSUKE: It also seems impractical for you to outlaw me from texting forever.

FUTABA: i literally did not say that

YUSUKE: You said, and I quote,

YUSUKE: “Yusuke, I said stop typing forever and ever.”

FUTABA: ok i know it looks like i said that but please im begging u it’s literally just an exaggeration

YUSUKE: As Makoto would say, it’s hardly an enforceable law.

FUTABA: u literally texted my sick and crusty ass just to give me a hard time

YUSUKE: Are you about recovered from your cold?

FUTABA: and now u have the nerve to ask me to go to ur art show thing

YUSUKE: I didn’t say that.

FUTABA: oh really

FUTABA: what were u gonna ask me about then

YUSUKE: The art show, naturally.

YUSUKE: But you could have done me the courtesy of letting me ask.

FUTABA: all that on the day of my daughter’s wedding and now u want me to do u a solid

FUTABA: well i have news for u

FUTABA: the answer

FUTABA: is yeah

FUTABA: sure why not

YUSUKE: Oh, excellent.

YUSUKE: I thought that you might decline on account of your illness.

FUTABA: i’m not a punk bitch

FUTABA: i’m going

FUTABA: u were only working all those paintings for like two months i wanna see their oily faces in person

YUSUKE: Just because they were made with oil paints does not mean that they are oily.

FUTABA: cant wait to see my oily boys

YUSUKE: Unfortunately, I have to set up the event beforehand, so I will not be able to accompany you on the way here.

YUSUKE: Will you be alright by yourself?

FUTABA: uh

FUTABA: hmm

FUTABA: how oily are these boys in case i need to call a rain check

YUSUKE: Hmm.

YUSUKE: Perhaps someone else can go with you.

YUSUKE: Let me see if I can find someone.

FUTABA: what like one of ur art friends

FUTABA: i’m not going with anyone i dont know sry

YUSUKE: I’ll keep it in mind.

Tuesday, 1:59 PM

YUSUKE: Unfortunately, Ann and Ryuji were not available. Both of them will be coming late to the art show.

YUSUKE: Fortunately, Goro is.

FUTABA: whomst

YUSUKE: Goro Akechi?

YUSUKE: Crow, in case you know multiple Goro Akechis.

FUTABA: no like why u callin him goro

YUSUKE: I asked him if I could and he said yes.

YUSUKE: There’s not many people left in Tokyo who were part of the Thieves.

YUSUKE: I’m not exactly popular at school myself, so I thought it prudent to hold onto the connections I already had.

FUTABA: hhhhhhhhhhhhh

FUTABA: but why him……………………………………….

YUSUKE: Has he done something wrong?

YUSUKE: Well.

YUSUKE: Besides the obvious.

YUSUKE: Last I heard, you were quite vocally supportive of Goro making a change for the better,but have you prehaps reconsidered?

FUTABA: i mean he’s always been nice to me

FUTABA: like even before he was on the team as crow

FUTABA: and then later after he like lost his shit and tried to kill us

FUTABA: he was also like weirdly nice

FUTABA: even if he was dressed as a tokusatsu villain

FUTABA: but

FUTABA: i

FUTABA: ok this is gonna sound really weird but like

FUTABA: you know how i said that the person to take me to the art show has to be someone that i know

YUSUKE: Yes.

FUTABA: even though akechi was one of the thieves at the end

FUTABA: i feel like i dont really know him

FUTABA: he like had that whole breakdown where he spilled all his kylo ren sadstuck junk and then he peeled his dumb ass up off the floor and then we beat up his dad in a dark alley

FUTABA: and then i guess akira likes him a bunch and hangs out with him and i guess probably talked to him about all that stuff that happened

FUTABA: and also i think ann talks to him

FUTABA: and also haru i think for some reason……………………..

FUTABA: but like i feel like. we as a group. never really uhhhhhhh

FUTABA: got to know him very well i guess

FUTABA: because he spent like the whole year being a fake ass bitch

FUTABA: and then by the time he wasnt, the thieves were busy literally fighting god, and it was all business business business

FUTABA: ughghfhg i guess this is just a really long way of saying that like yeah ok i guess i do know him but i dont think i really do

FUTABA: even when he was off the shits in the engine room it was like

FUTABA: somehow that was not……………………………….. really him

FUTABA: idk maybe this is just my Thoughts but like

FUTABA: idk some people are like “your true self is who you are at your worst” and

FUTABA: yeah maybe you are some PART of urself when youre at your worst but like

FUTABA: also not???

FUTABA: that can’t be it

FUTABA: that’s not ALL of you

FUTABA: so all i ever saw was him when he was being a fake ass barbie prince and then when he was like actively losing his shit

FUTABA: and both of those were like. two types of fake ass barbie prince

FUTABA: except obviously the one where he started screamin about murder and trying to kill joker was like, fake ass serial killer barbie prince

FUTABA: anyway i dont buy it for a second that seeing akechi at his worst means that i know the first thing about his “”“”“”“”“true self”“”“”“”“”“”“

FUTABA: like i know that i technically met him but also at the same time i dont think ive ever really actually met this dude

FUTABA: uh tldr what’s the truth crowboy

FUTABA: second tldr do you got anyone else i can go to the art show with because im not unpackin all that junk in the trunk while also trying to fend off a panic attack in the subway

YUSUKE: Well, to speak to "what’s the truth, crowboy,” I’d say he’s actually really funny.

FUTABA: WHAT

YUSUKE: Yes, actually.

FUTABA: YOU TRYNA TELL ME YOU SHARE A SENSE OF HUMOR W AKECHI

YUSUKE: As everyone knows, I don’t have a sense of humor.

YUSUKE: But if I did, that might not be inaccurate to say.

YUSUKE: Either way, we could ask Boss if he’ll take you to school.

FUTABA: no

FUTABA: im not makin him shut down leblanc for the day just cause i cant get my shit together

FUTABA: and i go to school by myself all the time now i dont need to be walked there by my dad like a four yr old

FUTABA: r u sure u dont have anyone else who can take me

YUSUKE: You said it had to be someone you know.

YUSUKE: I can take you.

YUSUKE: But I’ll be getting to Kosei early to prepare.

FUTABA: how early is early

YUSUKE: Four in the morning.

FUTABA: PLEASE INARI

YUSUKE: The people you know is a quite limited pool, Futaba.

FUTABA: shut the hell ur face i dont need u tellin me to make kosei friends too

FUTABA: i get my butt to school every day i’m already a hero

FUTABA: ok alright

FUTABA: crow-san it is

FUTABA: hhh

FUTABA: no shut up stop typing i’m fine

FUTABA: i already saw his dumb ass get inflicted with Horny from Yaldy God Himself i ain’t afraid of no crows

FUTABA: actually now that i remember that that was pretty funny mwehehehehehehe

FUTABA: OKAY send me the who what when where why

YUSUKE: There’s a PDF flier. I’ll send it to you.

YUSUKE: But I will have to type the email to send it to you.

FUTABA: oh my GOD inari

FUTABA: i swear to god ur not actually this dense and youre just pretending u dont know what an exaggeration is just to drive me up the wall

YUSUKE: Oh, that is a possibility, isn’t it?

FUTABA: WH

YUSUKE: Ah, last period is starting. I’ll have to talk to you later.

FUTABA: WHAT

FUTABA: NO WAIT

FUTABA: HELLO????

FUTABA: YUSUKE NO COME BACK

Tuesday, 2:53 PM

FUTABA: YUSUKE HAVE YOU BEEN MAKING AKECHI DO UR HW FOR U SO YOU CAN DO MORE ART??

FUTABA: IS THAT WHY UR ON A FIRST NAME BASIS W HIM

FUTABA: ANSWER ME STRINGBEAN

In Futaba’s opinion, there’s an infinite amount of more embarrassing reasons to pull yourself out of your depression pit than “I needed to yell at my friend for being a snotty bastard,“ and there’s worse escorts to have than the weird guy who went from being a professional murderer to their weird awkward friend. Firstly, if there’s anything that can motivate Futaba Sakura, it’s the primal urge to dunk on her friends for spite and memes. Secondly, there’s no chance in hell Futaba’s going to have a breakdown in front of Akechi.

She can do this. She got herself out of this grave once; she can do it again. Even if Akira isn’t here. She’s getting better. She promised him.

On the eighth day of her almost-return to hermithood, Akechi texts her:

AKECHI: I’m here.

AKECHI: Are you ready to go?

Futaba is wearing only an old shirt, no bra, sweats, and vaguely greasy hair from all the showers she’s skipped.

FUTABA: i’m SO ready

FUTABA: the readiest

FUTABA: ultra mega super ready

FUTABA: featherman ranger code name Ready

AKECHI: Oh.

AKECHI: Alright.

Hell yes alright. Time for Futaba to save her own life from her gravesite of a room.

With… Goro Akechi. Wow, life is weird, huh?

She drags on her Kosei uniform like a skin discarded long ago. It feels stiff. Maybe because it feels wrong to wear school clothes like a functioning human; maybe because she just hasn’t washed it in a week. The very idea of explaining herself to Sojiro stresses her out, so she doesn’t do it. The idea of not explaining herself to Sojiro, when he deserves an explanation and also would probably have a heart attack if he realized that she’d disappeared from her room without his knowing, also stresses her out, so she still doesn’t explain herself to Sojiro.

I told Akira I’m better now. I can do this. I did this for more than six months. I was out of my room in the real world, I went to the school festival, I changed my own heart…

She creeps down the stairs like a thief in her own house and pokes her head out the door. Goro Akechi is fiddling with his phone in the sun outside her house, looking like he, too, has only just managed to pull on his Human Suit and look like a guy who didn’t make shadows beg for mercy for fun, so it looks like this whole expedition is going to be a lot of fun.

"Futaba-chan?” says Akechi, only just noticing her lurking in her own doorway. “It’s been a while since we last saw each other. How are you?”

Futaba opens her mouth. No noise comes out.

Akechi’s eyebrows slowly begin to knit together.

“I’m good,” she says squeakily. Clears her throat. Holy shit, she’s not afraid of Akechi after all that junk they went through in the Metaverse. She saw him as a rat. She saw him visibly want to break his father’s face when Shido tried to apologize to him on live TV. Once, Makoto and Akechi got into an unironic, passionate, hour-long argument about whether or not it’s beneficial to color code your notes.

“I’m alright!” Futaba announces louder, maybe a little loudly, considering the way he looks only more concerned. “L-Let’s hurry up and get this sidequest over with!”

She pulls her hoodie over her head and jams her hands into the pockets and makes herself as small as possible and inches out of the doorway. “If you… say so,” says Akechi, and eventually matches her incredibly slow pace as she shuffles her way towards the main street.

When the noise of Yongen-Jaya’s street hits her, her heart rate (already high as hell) spikes even higher like the first day she’d come out of her room, but the old coping mechanisms come back like second nature: Breathe slower, avoid eye contact, remember her mission, stick to the sides of the streets. Breathe slower. She’s still got it. It’s still hard, but she’s got a whole arsenal of ways to deal. She can do this. She will kick Yusuke’s ass for being a dick, if only out of sheer spite.

If Akira were here, I could hide behind him and…

No, shut up, shut up. All she has is her hoodie and Goro Akechi. Akira’s not here. She can do this by herself.

Akechi makes precisely two attempts at small talk (“How has Kosei been?” “Have you seen the pieces Yusuke submitted to the art show before?”) before he realizes that Futaba isn’t going to respond by virtue of barely holding onto her shit by her fingernails. He shuts up and sticks close by. Futaba makes her way down the streets towards the subway like walking on a tightrope. The subway station isn’t busy, but she puts every step in front of her like she’s going to fall. Getting on the subway might as well be a highwire. Futaba and Akechi wait for the train in mutual silence to the sound of other commuters murmuring amongst themselves, like a toothless echo of Mementos’s depths.

When they get on the train, people around her are quiet, thank god, but all of a sudden she’s convinced that she smells because she hasn’t taken a shower in literal days, and she tries to pack herself into her seat as tightly as possible. The guy in front of her is scrolling through something at a ferocious pace and his thumbnail keeps hitting the screen with this incessant clack, clack, clack noise. The subway voice announces their next station as the doors begin to close, and a girl suddenly sits bolt upright, having realized that this is her station after all, and bangs Futaba’s knees hard as she passes. Futaba wants to curl her legs to her chest, but she’s wearing Kosei’s uniform skirt and it’d just make everyone stare at her if she did that on the subway. She curls her fingers into the skirt hem. She stares down at her knees and lets her hair drape around her like a curtain. She can do this. She can do this. Breathe slower. Even slower. I did this for more than six months, I told Akira I’m better now, I changed my own heart…

Akechi pulls out his phone. Futaba’s phone buzzes.

AKECHI: Are you alright?

FUTABA: i said i was ready dude

Akechi types and retypes an answer, which technically Futaba could just look over his arm and read, but instead Futaba flips through apps on her phone and pulls up a shitty mobile dungeon crawler. She dies four times before Akechi puts his phone away without sending anything.

They pass multiple stations like that. Futaba sure as hell hopes that Akechi’s watching which station they’re on, because she isn’t. After the millionth time she dies, Futaba just closes the app altogether. Concentration’s shot. Can’t focus on anything. Heartbeat’s too loud. Breathing’s too loud. The guy next to her is breathing too loud. Everything is too loud.

New text:

AKECHI: Yusuke said you’d recovered from your cold, but you still look a little unwell.

Futaba doesn’t respond to that. She doesn’t need Negative Nancy over here telling her she’s gonna crack. Because she isn’t gonna. The subway starts to slow, and the voice announces the station for Yusuke’s school. She’s literally almost there, she’s right there, she might die in three seconds because her heart is going to pound of her chest but at least she’s going to make it, she promised Akira that she was alright—

The subway doors open. Passengers stand to get off. Akechi stands up. Futaba drops like a rock.

“I can’t,” Futaba’s voice says. She sounds like she’s crying. “I can’t, I can’t do it, I—”

“Futaba—”

“I’m can’t do it, I—”

She buries her face in her knees on the dirty subway floor. Oh, she really is crying. “I’m sorry,” she says, “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t…”

Around her, people’s feet stop moving. They’re staring at her. She’s crying on the subway and everyone is staring at her. “Shh,” says Akechi, like Futaba doesn’t know she’s being a loud and irritating pest, but then he takes off his winter coat and covers her with it. Suddenly everything goes dark. It’s a huge coat, too; it wraps around her whole torso with enough room to spare to cover her entire head. Inside, it’s like she’s back in her room, only listening to the sounds of real life somewhere on the other side of a computer monitor, where it can’t hurt her. It’s so surprising she hiccups to a stop. Two hands pull her up by the shoulders and guide her to stand. “Up. Let’s go.”

“Is she okay?” says a voice.

Futaba’s entire body seizes with fear. She ducks into her own knees, trying to disappear.

“Hey, little girl, are you alright?”

“She’ll be fine,” says Akechi’s friendly, super fake ass barbie prince voice. “My sister just had a hard day. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“A hard day?” Now the stranger’s voice is accusatory.

“For your information, our dog was recently brutally run over in front of her eyes.”

“Young man, are you serious right now?”

“Oh, yes. There was blood everywhere. Its intestines squelched horribly under the tires less than six feet away from her,” Akechi goes on. Futaba chokes, and then hiccups in what she realizes is almost a laugh. “Please excuse her. Thank you.” And before the literal complete stranger can follow up on that awful statement, Akechi takes her hand and pulls her up.

Futaba stumbles to her feet. If she has to take the coat off right now, she will actually die.

“It’s okay. Just hold my hand and follow me.”

Blindly, she lets him lead her out of the subway, weaving through people with only minimal contact with other people’s shoulders. There’s a whole awkward period where Akechi has to walk her up the stairs out of the subway station while she can’t see anything, but eventually the noise and bustle of other people around her seems to die away, and the air grows cooler in the way it does in the shadows between city buildings. Then they stop walking altogether. When Akechi lets go of her hand, she almost tries to grab it back before she catches herself.

“Okay. There’s nobody else around, now. It’s safe.”

Futaba doesn’t come out of the jacket. In the dark, her eyes dart back and forth, trying to see even as she blinds herself.

“Sorry for grabbing you so suddenly like that,” Akechi’s voice goes on after it becomes obvious she’s not going to come out.

Futaba wipes snottily at her own face. Oh, this is so gross, she’s got snot and tears on top of five days worth of grime and body juice because she hadn’t taken a shower. She’s disgusting. She really actually wants to die right now. She can’t show her face like this.

“Er,” says Akechi. “Do you want…. water, or…?”

Futaba folds up right there on the city pavement, probably dragging Akechi’s nice coat all over a dirty alleyway. She tucks her face into her knees, where she feels safest, and pulls the coat flaps even tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“I’m sorry for not being okay,” she mumbles.

There’s a short silence. “You really don’t have to be.”

“I do,” Futaba says. She feels like she’s nine years old again, a petulant kid who needs to hold people’s hands and be escorted around Tokyo. “This is—it’s stupid, and I can’t believe I-I’m still doing this, a-and even a-after everything that h-happened last year, I’m still just a… I’m still…”

“It’s fine,” says Akechi. Even he sounds overwhelmed, and at the first sound of weakness, she pulls the coat off her head and glares at him furiously, red-faced and covered in tears and snot and gross depression juice crust and all.

“I’m not supposed to be this way anymore!” she says miserably. “I’m supposed to be better! Moved on! Doing literally a-anything else but crying over t-taking a subway! It’s stupid and nobody else is like this and I just want to be over this already and I just want to be better already and—!“

She covers her face with her hands again. God, even when she says that, it sounds pathetic.

After a moment or two, she hears Akechi moving again. She peeks at him. He’s crouching in almost the exact same pose as her, looking like he’s resigning himself to neither getting his coat back, nor moving from this spot any time soon, nor getting to Yusuke’s art show on time, but also looking archly and entirely unperturbed about it. Actually, it looks like he’s writing a work email on his phone.

Futaba was right about being in an alleyway, but it’s so cold because they’re shielded by a trio of vending machines selling canned coffee and wrapped sandwiches. "Our dog was recently run over?” she says.

“People can mind their own damn business,” says Akechi in his Pleasant Boy Voice, without looking up from his email.

“He was just trying to help.”

“Oh, yes, let’s help the crying girl by crowding her and suffocating her in a crush of public transit.”

Futaba snorts. “That was really mean of you.”

“Oh, absolutely,” says Akechi.

Futaba sucks a truly disgusting gob of snot into her nose. “Ugh. I wish I could’ve seen the guy’s face when you told him that.”

“It was like I’d spat on his shoes. I should’ve kept going. Or had a camera.”

“Futaba giggles wetly into her forearms. "Like one of those—those prank videos online… Get Yusuke to film it.”

“Yusuke, as the cameraman? I’m not trying to make a documentary.” Akechi flips to a different screen on his phone. “I already texted Yusuke about our poor dead dog, by the way, so don’t worry about it.”

Suddenly Futaba feels like literal garbage again. “Why are you always so nice to me?” she mumbles.

Akechi makes a weird face, like he’s trying to do his old Pleasant Boy shtick while having swallowed a lemon whole. “You say that like me being nice is somehow unusual.”

“Uh, yeah. Because it is. You literally were just being a huge asshole to a guy you’d never met over a fictional dog.”

Akechi has this increasingly disgruntled look on his face like he kind of wants to punt Futaba down some stairs, which, frankly, is the best sort of reward, in Futaba’s opinion. “I’m working on it,” he says grumpily.

“How’s that been?” says Futaba.

“Which part?”

Futaba has one whole moment of self reflection on this idea as maybe not a good course of action before she barrels on anyway: “The part where you’re turning your life around. Starting over. Trying again.”

“It sucks dick,” says Akechi.

“Oh, right on,” says Futaba, and then before she can stop herself: “Wait, I thought you liked dick?”

Akechi makes a noise like a strangled cat.

Futaba cackles. “Dude, incognito mode when you’re browsing for porn does not save you from people like me.”

“Have you been spying on me?”

“Uh, yes? Obviously?”

“You know you could get arrested for that sort of breach in privacy.”

“Oh, boo hoo, so sorry I know all about your weird orphan-saving night job and your smutty Featherman doujinshi collection. You’re not gonna narc on me.” Futaba stops. “Are you?”

“Stop looking at my internet history.”

“No. You better not narc on me.”

“Then stop looking at my internet history.”

“You had to google how to change a SIM card last week, crow-boy; you couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

“I will narc on you.”

“No you won’t. You’re the one trying to not be an asshole.”

Akechi makes a face like a cat being slowly submerged in cold water. Futaba laughs in his face.

“If you’re quite done,” says Akechi grouchily.

“No, never. You’re made for being made fun of,” says Futaba. “I’m gonna be making fun of you for years and years, crow-boy; you’re never going to get rid of me.”

“Great.”

“Gonna be creeping on your weird orphan-saving night job until the day you die.”

“Wonderful,” says Akechi without inflection whatsoever.

“Mwehehehehehehehehehe.”

“If you’re quite done.”

“I will take a well-deserved break from my endless duty to troll you both on and offline,” says Futaba. “Because I really really really wanna go to the art show.”

Akechi has the nerve to look relieved that he no longer has to squat in a dirty alleyway listening to a high school freshman bully him. “Then let’s go.”

Futaba hugs her knees tight. “But I wanna keep your coat.”

“Aren’t you wearing your own coat?” says Akechi, trying to look like he isn’t shivering. “Aren’t you getting hot?”

“I’m keeping it.”

“It’s my coat.”

“I’m keeping it.”

“Fine, then. Keep it. It’s dry clean only.”

“Oh, ew. No, take it back, gross, gross,” and Futaba peels the snotty, tear-stained, dirty winter coat off and dumps it back in Akechi’s arms, who looks at it with the expression of someone long-suffering and without hope of escape.

“And,” says Futaba, “I wanna see it if you tell anyone else that our dog got run over.”

Akechi smirks. “You’ll have to film it, then.”

“Oh my god, like I wouldn’t.”

Futaba scrubs her face one last time. She still feels like she’s covered in a grimy layer of slime, but maybe she can wash her face at Kosei. When she gets there. Because she’s gonna get there.

“Uh, one more thing,” says Futaba.

“Not like you’ve bullied me into doing literally everything else you’ve wanted,” says Akechi.

“You can’t laugh at me.”

“Good thing I don’t have a sense of humor,” says Akechi, which horrifyingly confirms to Futaba that Akechi and Yusuke, of all people, really do share a sense of humor.

Futaba hesitates. “Please, um… please don’t tell Akira about this.”

“Why would I tell Akira?“

"Nice. Good answer.” She smooths her hair down, trying to make herself presentable, or just have something to do with her hands. “I… told him I was gonna be okay without him and all that, so… I don’t wanna let him down, you know?”

Slowly, almost shyly, Akechi smiles. “Oh, yes. I know.”

“Our secret. Secret-keepers.”

“Secret-keepers. Are you ready?”

Futaba takes another deep breath. Pushes herself up, brushes herself off, and sighs. “Absolutely not. This is gonna suck so much dick,” says Futaba. “Let’s go anyway.”

#mine #slams hands on table FUTAGO SIBLINGS #futaba's dubious mental health cw #Anonymous

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meruz · 4 years

Text

some asks - sorry some of these are kind of old. I only get around to answering stuff once in a blue moon.

I do not! Nothing against it but I just don’t personally enjoy the process so I don’t use it in my personal work. Too much transforming and filtering.. too little actual drawing. I have however used it for professional work and sometimes I will sketch things individually and collage them together to make it easier for me to work depending on the scale. But yeah, no photobashing normally.

Thank you! (post in reference) I didn’t use any perspective grids for that drawing but occasionally for bigger pieces that require a stronger adherence to perspective I’ll use the Perspective Tools extension by Sergey Kritsky which is ABSOULTELY worth the price here on gumroad if you’re a photoshop-user - makes grids very easy to set up. You can actually see some of the grids in my process work if you’re looking for it lol

I used to be such a square abt it like “bluh perspective is just a bunch of lines i dont need a tool to do it for me like a DUMB BABY. I can just draw the grids myself and itll be good enough!!! :\” dont be like that LOL, I started using perspective tools for work last year and ported it over to my personal work so damn fast its like one of the best artistic decisions ive made. If you can make less work for yourself, PLEASE make less work for yourself.

I don’t remember what post this is but I’m like 90% its these brushes because these are like all the brushes I use LOL

hi yes thank you i LOVE grookey.

Thank you! They’re the best family!! KAROL IS MY FAVE........

you’re SO welcome. I recently watched Last Evolution Kizuna and [spoiler] WILLIS WAS IN ONE (1) SHOT... [/spoiler] so whoever was in my comments section telling me toei would never bring willis back, I think you owe me like $20

Yep! My Instagram, Twitter... I don’t have a patreon because I’m too lazy to set up tiers but I have a ko-fi if you want to drop a lil tip in my metaphorical buskers hat

You’re probably done by the game by now given how old this ask is but I’m flattered my art got you to play!! And I’m glad you love Akechi though I’m curious to know if your feelings on him have changed since sending this LOL. His latter act character stuff is one of those things that can really turn an opinion one way or another.

Thank you! Though I want to preface this by saying I don’t take requests but you can always contact me for commissions at [email protected].

I will probably draw naruto again because like every 4 years of my life I go through a naruto phase. I have drawn dangan ronpa before many many years ago and I gotta say the only time I will ever draw it again will be if I’m commissioned to lol...Nothing against it personally, it’s just not really my thing. Kiritetsu+Colossus.... I would but honestly I don’t even know what I’d draw, I feel like I covered it with that one drawing. But if you’ve got an idea... you can always commission me!!! And I’d be happy to.

Uhhhh they’re good! I like them! Yusuke’s character arc is maybe like my favorite or second favorite in the game and I love Ryuji first and foremost for max mittlemans voice acting and secondly because he is just so...so much better than P4 Yosuke who I truly could not stand.

I’m not big on Mishima but I think he’s an incredibly well written depiction of like. that dude in class who you didn’t really mean to talk to but ended up talking to and now its a little weird. I really like that event where you run into shinya while hanging out with mishima and shinyas like “whos this your friend” and ren is like “no, king, hes no one” LOL this is mostly because I just really like shinya.

ships.... I like yusuke/ryuji a lot, just aesthetically and personality wise its an interesting dynamic. I like ryuji/ann bc theyre good friends. I like ann/yusuke if I close my eyes to all the early plot stuff and just pretend theyre like.....fujiko and goemon from lupin III LMAO. ryuji/makoto? kinda woke?? I mean I feel lesbian makoto deep in my bones but also their showtime opened my eyes a lil. I think they could bond over action movies. mishima/protag is kind of fun in like a sad pathetic way.. I’m a little interested in mishima/JOKER actually bc i like identity porn plotlines lol.

YEP GO AHEAD I’ve been getting a lot of messages like this lately so I want to lay it out here and I’ll probably copy paste it into a FAQ later lol.

8Tracks and Spotify Playlists: Go ahead! please credit me either meruz.tumblr.com twitter@automeru or ig@automeruz - AND SEND ME THE PLAYLIST this is not a requirement really but I would love to listen to it.

Twitter/Tumblr Layouts/Headers: Good by me! but again PLEASE credit me somewhere VISIBLE on the layout. If it’s a twitter header/icon credit my twitter @automeru and if its tumblr credit my tumblr @meruz

Phone BGs, Desktop Wallpapers: definitely ok!! Any personal and non-commercial use of this nature, I’m cool with. If you ask me, I may even send you a hi-res version of the file but you have to promise to not scam me and sell it lol...

Instagram Reposts: A lot of artists would say no but I’m gonna say go ahead as long as you credit and tag me in the post, again my ig is @automeruz - if you don’t, and I find it, I will bug you about it in the comments and possibly even report you. Nothing personal, its just standard procedure.

Twitter/Tumblr Re-posts: Don’t?? Just RT or RB it from me?? whats wrong with you? I will report this.

Other site re-posts: I’ll probably say yes but again please credit and for this one PLEASE ask me first. It’s nothing personal really, I just want to know where my work shows up.

Video edits/fancams/comic dubs: Yes! Absolutely go ahead! And please send me a link I especially love to see this stuff!!

I also reserve all rights have you take it down if I do not agree with the usage or context, especially association with politics on the webpage/app/etc.

Thank you!!!!!!!! ;-; These are all so nice.. tucks them into a little pocket near my heart. I love drawing and I will keep trying my best to make art...! Hope you guys can look forward to it...!

#ask #asks #anonymous #looneystoo #gentlemangeek #greatasoyeah #oilux #noeggets

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wolfythewitch · 4 years

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Hi! I've been kinda stuck in art (quarantine isn't amazing for mental state but at least I'm not sick) and I absolutely love everything you create,and it inspires me. If you dont mind me asking, how long have you been drawing? And do you have any tips to share?

Hello! I’m sorry to hear that, yeah quarantine isn’t the best time. I’m glad my art can bring some reprieve tho 💕 and if you ever need to talk, my ask box and dms are always open^^

I’ve been drawing my whole life tbh, I can’t say I haven’t, doodles and coloring books, but I guess I never took it seriously till 3 years ago. I believe it was January 11, 2017? I drew James Potter, from the Harry Potter books and realized I wanted to do it more, yknow? That I wanted to improve and do something with my art.

Tipssssss

Humm I think I have some

1. When you’ve been drawing a while, and the drawing looks bad to you, or you feel like something isn’t working, or if you’re getting frustrated, take a break. Could be 10 minutes, could be an hour, or even a day. Stop working on it for a while and do something relaxing, then go back to it with a calmer mind. I used to draw things in one sitting, and so there’s a lot of my old art I’m unsatisfied with because I come back to it after a few hours and I see all my mistakes and how I could’ve avoided them.

2. Speaking of mistakes, they suck yeah, but don’t let that ruin your day. You’re going to have to make mistakes to learn, and sometimes it’s pretty fun to try to fix them. Drop an ink blot there? Draw a bouquet around it. Accidental line on the face? Well this character’s got a wicked scar now. It’s much easier to remove mistakes in digital art, but I do encourage you to try to have fun with it!

3. Use! References! I’ll admit, I’m also guilty of not using them sometimes, it takes a while for my laptop to download things so I don’t really feel like doing it. But when comparing drawings where I used references to drawings where I didn’t, there’s a considerable improvement. Plus, references help build up your visual library!

4. Visual library is v important. Whenever I see art, I always(at this point it’s become subconscious) study the lighting, or the line work, and what makes the piece,,,work, yknow? When I see stuff in real life, I try to remember how light and shadows affect it, how clothing wrinkles in certain places, what colors go together and what emotion they evoke. It’s helpful in building a good foundation for your art, and also makes a fun activity XD

5. I’m aware that some of my followers might have aphantasia, where one cannot visualize imagery. I don’t know enough to speak about this, but this is where references definitely comes into play. As well as art studies. My friend has this, and according to him, “I can’t imagine what a tree looks like, but I do know what a tree looks like, so I can still draw it.” If any of my followers have aphantasia, you are definitely welcome to talk about this and/or correct me if I’m wrong hsdhdh

6. There’s always gonna be bad art. Tho I’m a firm believer of “no art is bad”, I do know how one can be their own worst critic. Trust me, there is always bad art. When our favorite artists post beautiful art after beautiful art, it’s hard not to think about how effortless it seems, and how they seem to never make anything bad, but I promise you they do. I know I do, I just never post it XD so keep drawing, even if it’s one bad art after the other, because somewhere along the line, you’re going to see that you’ve improved, and when you look back on the previous years, you’re going look at the journey that took you here and it’s gonna be worth it.

Some more smaller tips:

-when drawing always check your angle, because sometimes you might be drawing on a raised surface and the angle will be all weird when you check it at eye level

-Save. The. Canvas. I’m a hypocrite and my friends will tell you because I can go 7 hours without saving but trust me, do it. I have lost so many files because of this.

-art studies are always fun! Try practicing drawing different hand movements, or eye shapes, dynamic poses

-don’t be afraid to ask for constructive criticism! (unsolicited critic is a whole other topic) when people give critique they often mean well, but if someone insults your art, and it’s not constructive, ignore it, it won’t help you.

-an art style isn’t in any way wholly original. So if you want to find your art style, I suggest combining different styles and try to find one that fits your tastes! Delicate lineart, bold lineart, saturated colors, pastel colors, cell shading, flat colors, painting, inked, it’s all up to you!

-try out different mediums! You can have your main one, but it’s pretty fun to play around with others

-have fun! Art is meant to be enjoyed, and so you shouldn’t force yourself to draw when it makes you unhappy

If you’ve got your own tips and tricks, feel free to add them to this post! And also, here’s a drawing I did a couple of years ago XD

#anon #anon asks #tips #art #digital art #traditional art #art tips #asks #sorry for the long post dvdjd

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aharris00britney · 5 years

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ASKS 16

haha remember in July when I said I was gonna answer stuff every month... yeah me neither 🙈🙈 anyways lots of stuff under the cut

Anonymous said: You should get along with other Simblrs and start a new cc group now that PTS is disbanded, your hairs and clothes are always amazing! :D

Firstly thank you! Most of the clothing in AxA is 99% ayoshi with me going in after and cleaning/adding some stuff. So I give him props for the clothes :P As far as a ‘new PTS’ style group idk, there are a lot of amazing creators on simblr but I think the reason PTS was such a special thing is because the bond they all had. I feel that when working on collabs with some of my really close friends (such as the one coming out this month with @dogsill and @ayoshi) because we have known each other for over 2 years now. A group of friends built only for collabing purposes would be more of a hassle than an enjoyment imo. <3

Anonymous said: HELLLOOOO! just curious bc why not but what is your favorite creation that you have made??

It varies every month to be honest lmao. If you asked me to pick a favorite hair from each month? Easy, always the last release of the month. But favorite hair ever? Awwww shucks 🤠 lmao I would say my Madison Hair is one of my favorite hair releases, I am planning to revamp it soon to work with my Mia ombre accessories and tidy the mesh up some.

Anonymous said: hello, when will this collection be free for public download please? /post/186706149526/patreon-08-19

That came out in August luv, go to my downloads page and click AxA 2019

Anonymous said: Hi! Idk if you do wcif!!!! But if you do, wcif the freckles on the girl with the short hair on the BOP AHOOB collab?? If you know! Thank you much in advance!!!!!

Hey! You’ll need to send Bowl-Of-Plumbobs a message for that WCIF, that was his Sim otherwise I would link you. Sorry hun

@lumalinrose-sims said: Not a question, but you are like so cool I can't even--

thank you lmao I appreciate it, your profile pic it pretty cool :P

@ang3lba3 said: sarah is so pretty!!! is there a way to download how she looks in its entirety, or no? (sorry if this is a silly question im pretty new to the sims)

not silly don’t worry :P the Sarah hair is for download on the post, the sim can be downloaded here but she is a bit outdated as I have changed her somewhat since then.

Anonymous said: Hihi just stopping by to tell you how much I love your hairs!!

thank you so much! I appreciate the love<3

Anonymous said: hi! i just wanted to say that i love your cc so much i and always look forward to your posts! you make the cutest cc ever and honestly you're probably my favorite cc maker. you also seem like such a chill and genuine person we truly stan.

fgvhbjn thank you lmao I am literally TOO CHILL irl lmao I let people run over me so much but it’s whatever. Thank you again for the super sweet message. Have a great day if you’re reading this :)

Anonymous said: Heeeey we have the same name

Austin club :P great name til you’re trying to sign something and it looks awful (at least for me I can’t do my signature for shit)

Anonymous said: the collab with bop is so boring and dull it’s drier than a cracker it’s a no from me

well not everything is going to be someones cup of tea lmao I’m sure there is someone that enjoys it which counters you’re negative view <3

Anonymous said: Hi I love your cc! I have almost all of it in my game and I love your tropical punch palette so much I was wondering if you would ever consider releasing the palette.

If I ever make an ombre accessory tutorial video I will release a set of actions for the palette. If you wanna use the palette feel free to grab the hex codes from S4S.

Anonymous said: How did you become a ea game changer? Was it through Tumblr or youtube?

About a year ago SimGuruKate was the community manager and had applications for Tumblr Game Changers, I applied and got accepted. Follow SimGuruFrost on Twitter to stay up to date on when new applications are open.

Anonymous said: Are you going to upload the hair you made on your livestream? I literally love your work and am a Patreon subscriber!!!

Hey! The hair will be in my October voting (I think) and if it wins, release will be November. If it doesn’t win I will put it in November voting and so forth til it wins. Also thank you for watching the stream and supporting me on Patreon

Anonymous said: hello!! i just wanted to see if knew is there’s anyway i can save my cc and save files somehow where i can download them again if my computer breaks so i don’t have to download it all again.?

zip your Sims 4 folder and upload it to Google Drive/SimsFileShare/OneDrive. Then when you install Sims 4 again you just replace the folder made in Electronic Arts in your Documents.

Anonymous said: what face do you make when your in love with a bee?

this is an old anon so I doubt they’re gonna check for this, and I can’t find the joke on Google so.... anybody know it?

Anonymous said: i love these collab sets they are honestly gifts from above

mhmm gifts from above for every collab except those in October... those are from below 👹 😳

Anonymous said: the pack is sooooo cute i love everything omg!!!! The male stuff is so adorable i can’t wait to download

Anonymous said: you guys are the only ones i go to for packs i would love to see build buy items in the future we don’t get a lot mm stuff like that

Anonymous said:i just want to say thank you for putting in so much time and hard work and dedication to creating cc for us. i hope there's never a moment when you feel unappreciated, and i want you to know we all love you!

@primadonnaliferiseandfall said: all hail you and ayoshi for the cc pack its so pretty omg!!!!

Anonymous said: omg the kings have delivered!!

Anonymous said: since we got axa 2019 and 2018 will there be an axa 2020? 👀

Anonymous said: Great job on the pack! Everyone's items look gorgeous! Thank you for making this, you talented human being.

Anonymous said: ilysm! that’s all 💓💫

Anonymous said: just wanted to let you know that your content is absolutely amazing and i love it all :) sending love from the uk👍

Anonymous said: would you and ayoshi consider sharing the psds for some of the stuff in your collab? please?

thank you guys so much! Me and Ayoshi were super super happy with the AxA 2019 release and we are so happy with how many people have liked it. AxA 2020 will be a thing, yes. Also I have been working on PSDs that are super easy to navigate. I will get those up soon hopefully.

@graphicpickles said: Hey um, I dont know if you were aware of this but your discord link is broken ^^"

hey! this is super late sorry, discord link should be working now. If not: https://discord.gg/CtQR9tb

Anonymous said: Why would you include a cc hair in a preview for a cas review

because I liked the hair and wanted to use it 😗

@goddesssimmerina said: I just stopped by to tell you how much I LOVE your content. *_* I just went through and downloaded soooo much! xD I actually just switched to using MM hair and i'm so glad I did because I'm finding so many of you amazing creators and I thank you all sm! :*

awe thank you!! I appreciate it. Welcome to MM hair world :P

@moonbrightsims said: whats ur origin id?

AHarris00Britney

Anonymous said: how are your photos/screenshots so high quality? seriously, do you use a mod for it or idk editing? or maybe your settings?

Ultra Settings, and I use SRWE for HQ pics.

Anonymous said: if you don’t answer this ask you’re straight

It has been answered. I am no longer straight. Was a hard two months not answering this 😔😔😔

Anonymous said: Hi, would you mind teaching us how you make the LoDs of your hairs? I opened one of them in S4S and found out your LoDs are great looking. I use decimate tool in blender and they look really bad.

I edge split everything before I decimate in Blender, I also delete the hairline and extrude the mesh inside the head before decimating as well. Really confusing to explain in words sorry. Might make a tutorial.

Anonymous said: omg ur cc finds blog has apink namjoo as icon and header. i'm.. sCREAMING. austin knows royalty

yes ma’am now where is the comeback

- it was at this point I realized I have caught up with my last asks post and have answered 4 things over again from Asks 15. Well... I guess that’s it folks

see yall in asks 17 in 2 months.... maybe the end of October idk

#asks #nonsims #saviorhide #i dont even know why i decided to answer stuff tonight it is 1:32AM now and i started an hour ago #let me go be productive and do something like lay in bed playing Animal Crossing Pocket Camp for 2 hours til I pass out #actually let me post a teaser idgaf its 2am but when else am i gonna post it

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tenutovillage · 4 years

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actually u know what i wanna sum up all my thoughts sorry i know i said i was done but i dont know how to shut up

there will be spoilers and talks of leaks bc whatever at this point

this will only cover the content “issue” and not the multiplayer/multi user/alt players comments bc i havent done enough with it to really talk about it

very long LONG post in coming

those who haven’t been following the directs might not know that THERE’S GOING TO BE A LOT OF FUTURE UPDATES!

Holidays (and other certain features as been shown in datamines) are being held back for (so far) free updates...now I personally believe this will follow in Splatoon’s footsteps (since both games have come out since new leaf) and unless we get something on the level of octo expansion or swsh’s dlc there probably wont be anything paid? but who knows nintendo is as ppl say “the masters of the left field”

Bunny Day’s update JUST released (i thought it was the day 1 patch but whoops that was online features) which gives us sEVERAL days for a holiday

Earth Day was confirmed to be next (with Leif, does this mean he’ll only be a holiday character now? WHO KNOWS i mean....leakers will know eventually probably)

Leaks time

**And to segway into leaks....Brewster is coming with the cafe and an art gallery, which from what I heard are the museum updates (probably where those stairs go to) Idk anything about if Redd was found in the files but ppl who have seen the leaks more than me lemme know otherwise maybe Redd will be back later doing something else DONNO

And that’s JUST what we probably know so FAR

Now you can talk about what things should have been in the base game and what should have been held off until updates

But I think as most ppl have said this was all to discourage time traveling and to promote playing the game at a slower pace and having reason to check in on the game over time

And yet...........so many people time traveled anyway!! (spoiler mentions if u care about that)

people are already at perfect towns to see k.k. slider people have already completely terraformed their islands, they have the biggest houses, and yet.........NOT EVERYTHING IS EVEN IN THE GAME....now you just have to continue to wait for future updates when you’ve already seen everything in the base game

i dont care about time traveling, i did it a TON in new leaf and im trying not to in NH but who knows....but at the same time....you’re just gonna be sitting and waiting now (which i mean animal crossing is supposed to be played at ur leisure anyway so shrugs)

and NH isnt like NL or any other AC game for that matter....it’s slowly updating (and maybe even slower haha hi pandemic ;; )

im sure theres plenty of other non related issues (like i mentioned above but i haven’t even made a second character yet) but i think it’s too early for the WHOLE picture on the game i mean its just about a week old now

and like i said...if you compare to splatoon (WHICH SURE ITS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT GAME GENRE) look at the content it started with and look what it ended with

you dont have to like the game you dont have to like it over the older games and you dont have to like how they’re doing things but this is just what i think

the animal crossing we have right now....a week into the game after several months in delay will be even grander a year into it (or so i hope! haha....dont want this to poorly age)

even new leaf got the amiibo update which changed SO MUCH

and they didnt delay this game for nothing

#acnh #animal crossing #u dont have to agree with me #and if u rather wait to get the game bc of this thats fine #assuming the updates are a one and done deal

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anotherwhumpblog · 4 years

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I don't remeber if i ever wrote an introduction, so here goes.

My name is Pie but you can also call me Lara or Jer. I use any pronouns.

Ive been interested in whump since i was a small child, I think 4 or 5. I was one of those "gifted" kids who could read at a college level before starting school. My favorite books were always the ones where someone got hurt or sick.

I like whump because i find it relatable, and it helps me to cope with some things i went through.

Most people, i think, dont find whump relatable. A friend of mine said that most people didnt have a childhood anywhere near mine ^^" so here's a brief description of some of the things about me:

Im only 5 feet tall. Which is odd since my family is above average height and my brother is 6 foot and 15 years old. Most of the time when people point it out, i just laugh it off or say i dont know why im so small. But to be honest, its from malnourishment. My family was very very poor (we still are rather poor but not as bad as it was). I lived with my little brother and my mom, and my dad was very abusive and didnt live at home. I'm extremely lactose intolerant, and mom would make macaroni and cheese a lot because my brother really liked it. But I couldnt eat it, so i was forced to go hungry a lot. My mom also has become more and more abusive as I've gotten older, and stopped making meals for me altogether in my early teens, so i had to either cook for myself or live on chips. Which i did. Combine that with no milk, and you get me.

I have hundreds of scars. Most of them are knife wounds. Most of them have pretty cool stories, too, like the one where i was stabbed with a sword (i used to fence), and the one where i was shot with a paintball at point blank range (as in the barrel was right next to my skin).

I have chronic pain. Theres something wrong with my bones that causes them to ache and makes my joints occasionally give out. Ive also got the beginning stages of arthritis from sewing 10 hours a day when i was a teen.

I cant swim. I know how, but i get exhausted very easily and my arms and legs start hurting and then I start to sink. Its terrifying and embarrassing, so I just dont go in deep water. I still swim in the local river though haha.

I get sick easily because I'm allergic to pretty much anything that gives off pollen or spores. I get frequent bloody noses and respitory infections. My childhood house was also rotten with mold and mildew. I remember that if i pushed on the wall in my bedroom, I could actually move it a couple inches in, and the drywall would slide along the nails. We also had rats and ants.

I have difficulty remembering things, and my brain has actually blocked memories from me. Im in therapy because of this. It affects my short term memory too, and sometimes i get lost in the mall and stuff because I forget where im at and who im with.

I sleep on the floor, because I toss and turn from nightmares and got tired of falling off the bed. I do this in hotel rooms too, much to the concern of my friends. Yes i have a mattress, yes I'm comfy, yes i prefer it this way.

When i was 11 my mouth grew a second pair of upper inscisors for absolutely no reason and i had to have a set removed because they stuck out like a vampire and were causing problems with the rest of my teeth. The remaining set were also too pointy and i was constantly biting my lip by accident so the dentist filed them down. They had to sedate me for that and as a result i hate the dentist. I also had to have braces afterwards.

Those are the teeth they removed ^^"

I stutter really bad and have a lisp. I can keep it under control unless im really anxious. When im in a new setting, i cant talk at all. I have specific friends who I've given permission to talk for me, and im trying to learn asl.

I was sexually assaulted as a teenager, but that's the one thing i don't feel comfortable talking about.

So yea thats me!! If you have any questions go ahead and ask me them! I have a lot of stories about my life and telling them helps me heal. You'll see a lot of stuff on this blog that's similar to what i went through, but not all of it is that, I just really like whump in general. I don't really have any ""turn offs"" except for extreme medical inaccuracies like gallons of blood loss and stuff. i also sometimes reblog my art here too ^^"

Sorry this is so long

#whump #introduction #whump intro #whump blog #irl whump #whump introduction #about me

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spearxwind · 5 years

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thanks

it should all be updated now!! ty!!

dkjfkfdj god im glad. theres like.... 50 million adri asks in my inbox rn and idk when theyre from or what theyre referring to but just know i love u all a lot and the fact that you like him this much makes my day every day ty yall

im glad you like her!! i havent had much of a chance to draw her, esp. since i mostly use her to represent myself, but eventually I might :’) sorry i cant give a more specific answer im definitely planning on redoing her ref sheet though... at some point

yea

we’re doing PRETTY GOOD ive got a lot of his story down and ive finally, after THREE YEARS. nailed down the lore in a good way so its all dandy and ive been really good!! busy with irl stuff and visiting my friends and doing a lot of cool things, ive honestly never been better -w-

as of right now though, adri’s been in timeout for about two weeks and i am seriously holding back from drawing him so i can focus on other ocs and other projects kjsdkjlshsj but you guys won’t really catch the timeout I guess since im going to be spamming art for the next 10 days (both of him and other ocs though. but you probably wont catch him on timeout is what im saying. not that i havent kept yall on timeout for 3 months whoops)

god i didnt even think anyone remembered nulll.... ty my dude. i actually came across all my old art of him the past couple days bc i was organizing all my files and yknow, i might bring him back at some point (but dont hold your breath...... im notorious for forgetting these types of promises)

IM SORRY IM SO VERY LATE ANSWERING THIS BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS LITERALLY MEANS THE WORLD TO ME IM !!!! [SADCAT EMOJI]

youll be.......... happy to know im starting another comic though (dont worry, i probably wont leave this one half done. its been in development for 6+ years kljhksjdfhskjghl)

my art tag up to now consists almost entirely of art made on firealpaca! its a free, lightweight and versatile program and ive drawn on it for years. I recently bought CSP since im going to be a lot more serious about my art now, and I also got to a point in firealpaca where id already learned how to do mostly everything and the limited brush engine was holding me back, so i waited for CSP to go on sale and WOW it is absolutely amazing, theres SO MANY tools and brushes you can download for free, its literally mindblowing. i really really recommend it if you’re willing to put the money in

i do know of other free programs that you could use though! there’s medibang paint, its also very powerful however for me it was really counterintuitive to learn

and there’s KRITA as well which has several brush engines instead of just one !

theres mischief, its a program that uses vectors to draw so you could infinitely scale your drawing up or down and never lose quality. its a paid program but there’s a free version, the only problem is that it only lets you have one layer

_____________________________________________________________

OKAY thats all the like... asks that i can actually give an answer to. the others I either dont know how to respond, dont require an answer or the like, but i promise ive read every one of them! !

im going to clear my inbox now to make space for all the new asks :3 ty yall

#ask #ask dump #long post

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feel199x · 5 years

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❃.✮:▹joanne the scammer◃:✮.❃

con man!lee minho, college!au, cop (sorta??)!reader

a/n: sksksk i dont know why but Minho gives me the wildest ideas for fics;; this is a one shot but its,, long masterlist

warnings: some zesty jokes, little bit of swearing, catcalling

College spring break was famous for a lot of things, both good and bad. After an intense exam season, you did something you would never consider any other time except three am, thinking about how life is passing you by and you’re not really living life. So, you booked tickets to Cancun. You had forgotten until the next morning, finally realizing the weight of your decisions, and ran to make a suitcase. It made you nervous, to go somewhere new alone. But college was for new experiences, right? Besides, the money was already taken out of your account and they didn’t allow refunds, so you had to make the best out of the situation. Spring break was starting, and if you didn’t hurry up, it was going to leave you behind. So, at nine am you ran out of your apartment, scared of running late.

Even though your flight was at one pm, you liked airports. Granted, it wasn’t often you went on trips, but airports were full of interesting people. And by interesting people, you meant con-men. Your criminology class had brought it up during discussion, and you couldn’t stop thinking about it. And now, wherever you went, you looked out for those type of people. There was something very noticeable, very distinct about the way they talked, moved- how they looked. There were many types of criminal, and while a con man wasn’t the worst, they certainly were annoying. The whole shtick of a con-man was their confidence, how they just thought they were just that much smarter. Even though you weren’t a detective- not yet- you had to admit that it was a little fun to scare the newer con-men off. And as you looked around, you realized that this particular airport was abundant in them. There were three by the time you entered, and none by eleven am. You stayed in the back, participating in their games. One, in particular, was playing a card game, letting bored, awaiting passengers bet on a rigged game. He was a little harder to scare off, but you had time- you wanted to beat him at his own game.

“It’s the middle one,” you declared at the back of the group, “So can you give this sweet lady her money back?” You wanted to step in earlier, but you wanted to make sure that you had figured everything out. He looked at you in surprise and lifted the plastic cup. And to his surprise, it came rolling out- he had realized he had made a mistake after you did. It made your head get a little big, but you were mostly happy that the little old lady got all the money she bet back. It was a little weird to you since someone would think that she’d be more knowledgeable about this sort of thing. You ushered her away from the booth and warned people not to play the game. And he went home, all dejected. Maybe you didn’t have the power of a cop, but you could still act in the right of an annoying civilian.

You were scrolling through your phone, bored after you had scared off all the con-men for at least a couple hours until someone caught your surprise. You didn’t know when exactly he got there, but there he was, sitting across from you. Immediately, you were suspicious. For some reason, you just got weird vibes from him. But the guy wasn’t doing anything, so you turned your attention back on your phone.

“Hey, do you want to play a game?”

Red flags as soon as he finished speaking. But two could play that game. You put your phone down, and smiled- but not just any smile. A flirty smile, a ‘a cute boy is talking to me!’ smile. He smirked, and boy, did you wanna punch him- you really did. Square in the middle of his beautiful face. “Sure,” you said, “I’ve got nothing to do for another two hours.”

“Great,” he winked, “We can get to know each other.”

He moved to sit next to you, laying a deck of cards on the table. “Do you know how to play?” he asked, “It’s alright if you don’t I can teach you. I can teach you lots of things.”

“No, I don’t,” you lied, “But I wouldn’t mind if you taught me.”

And he did, sort of. He left a few parts out, key parts, that would determine your understanding and ability to win the game. But you paid attention anyway.

“You’re really smart,” he commented, “What do you major in?”

“Fine arts.”

“Ah, a piece of art studying art.”

“Where are you going..?” your voice trailed off as you encouraged him to tell you his name.

“Minho, taking a trip to Cancun.”

Under the table, your hand clenched into a fist. Sure, he was cute, but he was sleazy. And the game he was playing, preying on insecurities? That was pretty gross, even for a con-man. “This is my favorite part, but I’m kinda scared,” he smiled, “You bet money, if I win, I get the money. If you win, you get double the money and… a date.”

You could punch him, you really could.

“I like that.” You only bet a couple dollars, losing on purpose for the first couple rounds and you watched as he relaxed and settled into his seat, a shadow of a smirk on his face. But after the first six rounds, he comforted you. “Aw,” he said, “I’m sorry. Go for another round? Maybe you’ll win next time.” You smiled, internally cringing and winked at him. “I’m pretty determined,” you responded, “I’ll bet five hundred dollars.” A smirk spread across his face.

“You sure? That’s a lot of money sweetheart.”

“I’m sure.”

As he spread and shuffled for the last time, he watched as he slid out a card from the sleeve. You remained calm though because you had a royal flush. It had taken you a while to get the rhythm, but with five hundred dollars on the line, you really couldn’t afford to lose.

“Straight flush,” he smiled, reaching for the money, “Sorry darling.”

“Royal flush.”

He looked at you, slightly angry, slightly surprised as he watched you place the hand on the table. “There’s no way-,” he started, “How did you-?”

“Run me my money, Minho.”

“You cheated.”

“Did I, con-man?”

You took your money back, putting it back in your wallet. “See you in Cancun.”

The thing was, you didn’t actually mean it. You hoped that you had scared him out of his wits, even for a little while. But among the mistakes he made, it was telling the truth. He’d have to be new to the game because none of the seasoned people you’ve met had ever made the mistake of telling the truth. So when you saw him behind you in line, flirting with the TSA lady so she didn’t look at the screen, you were unsure if you wanted to laugh, fight, or pray to god that you weren’t sitting next to him.

God wasn’t that kind.

“Oh shit,” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes, “Please move, you’re gonna ruin all my plans.”

“Oh fuck off,” you crossed your arms, staring up at him from your window seat, “If you’re such a good con-” He quickly sat down and shushed you, placing his hand on your mouth and looked around to make sure no one was paying attention. “Someone could’ve heard you!” he scolded, his eyes looking intently at yours, “And I’m not a con-man! Ew! Did you-”

“Lick your hand? Yes, yes I did. Leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone, cool? If you behave, then I might not tell the police about you as soon as I get off this plane.”

“You’re such a brat! What are you, a cop?”

You smiled, giving him a mocking wink. “Soon.” He groaned, tearing his eyes off you to slump down in his chair. You put on noise-canceling headphones and stared out the window. Maybe you had to endure a long flight, but it couldn’t be that bad, right? That’s what you thought, but eight hours into the flight and you caved. You were becoming restless, wanting company and someone to talk to but all there was only a con-man. You looked at him through the corner of your eye, and he was lucky he was cute. His problem was that he was arrogant, and let his guard down much to easily- he couldn’t observe his mark if the world depended on it. You were beginning to doze off into your thoughts when you heard his voice again.

“Hey,” he poked you suddenly, “I’m bored. Let’s play a game.”

“You lost last time,” you said sleepily, “And you’re a cheater, and I’m tired..”

“But I’m bored.”

“Shut up, Minho.”

“You shut up.”

“No, you.”

So you played with him, a couple rounds of palace until you fell asleep with the cards in your hand. But soon, you were being shaken awake.

“I was having such a good dream...”

“I get it, I’m the man of your dreams. But we’re in Cancun.”

“I hope I never see you again.”

“Oh please,” he gestured at his body, somehow rolling his hips, “You want all this.”

“I’ve never been so disgusted. And I’m telling the cops.”

“You don’t have proof.”

You sighed, finally opening your eyes to glare at him. He was right, you didn’t have evidence, but you could still warn them about him. As you filed out of the plane, that was it. You were in the sun, already surprised by how warm it was. You didn’t see Minho in baggage claim and you were relieved, it looked like you wouldn’t be seeing him ever again. He was someone else’s problem now. The taxi ride was alright, not the best you’ve ever experienced, but certainly not the worst. Mostly because of the view, the sky was the deepest and purest shade of cerulean you had ever seen. You were excited, finally leaving behind your studies and university to enjoy some ‘me time.’ As you arrived at the hotel, you realized how much of a broke college student you really were. You knew that you couldn’t afford a beach-front hotel, but the small inn had to have some health violations. It was small and cramped, hidden away in a back alley. But, it could be worse, at least you weren’t mugged.

“I’m sorry,” the receptionist said, “But we had to add another guest to your room, due to scheduling errors. It should be fixed in a couple days.”

You were a little peeved, a little annoyed- but it wasn’t anyone’s fault, so there was nothing anyone could do. It couldn’t be helped. You nodded, telling the receptionist that you understood and that it wasn’t a big deal. You made your way upstairs, getting a little more annoyed as you had to drag your heavy suitcase up the stairs as the elevator wasn’t working. But when you shoved your cart into the slot, pushing the door open as the green light beeped you in, you didn’t expect to see him.

You’d rather have been mugged.

“No,” you laughed, “Yeah, no, not doing this.” He was surprisingly calm, hands behind his head on the bed. The only bed, you might add. “It’s spring break,” he said suavely, “You’re not gonna find another room.” You dropped your back, totally exasperated as you fished out a swimsuit. “You’re right! We’ll deal with this,” you pointed at the both of you, “later.”

He turned to you, tilting his head. “Great! I’ll join you.”

“No!”

“Why? You don’t own the beach, and I can’t con anyone with your presence in my head.”

“I-,” you sighed, “Whatever. At least you’re not conning anyone.”

As you stepped out of the bathroom, you remembered that you didn’t actually know how to get to the beach. The both of you stepped out into the streets and wandered for a bit, Minho making comments under his breath- but making sure you heard- it killed you to ask him, it really did. There was no signal so you couldn’t use google maps. And you were awful with directions, so finally, you just turned to a very smug Minho, hands in his pockets as he looked at you.

“What’s wrong, princess? You lost?”

“Shut up, pretty boy. But,” you tapped your foot, hands on your hips, “Yes. Can you just lead, please?”

“My pleasure.”

You trailed behind him, feeling like a lost puppy as you followed. “Can’t we just stop here?” you complained, “We’re already at the beach.”

“It’s overcrowded, do you want to be around a bunch of drunk college students?”

So the both of you walked more, burning up in the heat of the tropics. You were glad you remembered to put on sunscreen because even with it, your skin felt warm. “C’mon,” you stopped and grabbed his hand, “Can we stop, please? I just wanna swim.” Minho’s face flushed. “We’re almost there,” he said quickly, “You’ll like it, I promise.”

“Have you been here before?”

“Of course. I’m a con-man, remember? Tourists are easy money.”

“You’re like twenty, you can’t have been doing this for a long time. Also, can you let go of my hand?”

He stopped and looked down at your hand that was tightly embraced in his. Instead of reacting in a normal way, and letting go of your hand, he just wiggled his eyebrows. “Why?” he teased, “This the first time you’ve held a pretty boy’s hand?”

“You’re not that pretty.”

“Am too.”

“You don’t make me nervous! I could hold your hand if I want to!”

“Prove it then.”

“What are you, six?”

But the both of you continued walking, holding each other’s hands in a weird ego competition. If you weren’t so hell-bent on proving him wrong you might’ve thought: hey. Maybe, maybe he’s flirting. And maybe, you know, just maybe, you actually were nervous. Finally, after what seemed like an exodus of walking. But Minho just stopped at the edge of the water.

“You need to climb on my back.”

“I need to what?”

“It’s dangerous here, and you don’t know where to step or swim against the currents.”

“I’ll manage.”

“Thought you said you weren’t scared of a pretty boy.”

“I also said you weren’t that pretty.”

You knew it didn’t make a lot of sense, especially after he raised an eyebrow and smirked that infamous smirk of his as you climbed onto his back.

“Never bring this up again.”

“Of course not. Unless, of course, you want me to.”

“I’m going to drown you.”

“Kin-”

“Shut up!”

Minho swam elegantly against the current, and the both of you ended up in a cove. It was enchanting, something out of a fantasy novel and you wrapped your arms and legs tighter around Minho’s shoulder as the waves began to get larger. The cove had a large entrance of sorts, the rock arching around as a pocket in the beach. There were large rocks as you got closer to shore, and you were completely mesmerized.

“Hey, ___.”

“How do you know my name?”

“It was on your suitcase.”

“Mm, so you were creeping.”

“I’m going to throw you into the depths.”

You gasped. “Oh, Minho, baby,” you teased, “You’re scamming your way into my heart. Never met an angel before? You nervous?”

He laughed. “No, but I can show you heaven-”

“Okay, yeah, you win this one. I’m getting off.”

The water was a lot warmer than the beaches surrounding your hometown and university, so you just sat in the water for a while, floating around as the waves pushed you around. It was lovely, and you were forgetting about your exams and the oncoming semester, all the project you’d have to do. Your stress and worry was being lapped away and pushed away into the ocean by the waves. That was until Minho splashed you, getting water into your nose and making you snort.

As you coughed, getting the salt water out of your system, you blindly splashed Minho back. “What was that for?”

“I’m lonely.”

“Sounds like a you problem.”

You continued splashing around like children until your arms got tired. “You’re a literal child,” you said, wheezing, “Why did they let a six-year-old on a plane? Are you allowed to travel without your parents?”

“Says the one who splashed me back.”

“In retaliation.”

It was quiet for a moment, the both of you wading in the water.

“Why did you try and scam me?”

He looked startled by the question as if he didn’t expect you to bring it up at some point in time. “Would you believe me if I said it was because I wanted your number?”

“No.”

He sighed. “That’s how it started, sort of. But as you lost, I thought you’d be an easy mark.”

You crossed your arms, “And was I?”

“What kind of person gets a royal flush?”

“People who don’t forget how to explain the rules.”

There was another moment of silence as the laughter died down. “Why do you want to be a cop?”

“I want to protect people.”

“From con-men?”

“Yes, but you’re not so bad. Not a very good con-man. You are a pretty boy though.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He came closer, and your heart was beginning to beat as he was only millimeters away from you, you could feel his weight shift the sand close to you. “It’s getting dark!” you said suddenly, “We should get going.”

“It’s only sunset, look at how nice it is-”

“Pretty dark! Don’t wanna get mugged.”

He ran his hand through his hair and turned so you could get on his back. You were flustered, making your way back to the hotel in silence. The problem was the growing amount of drunk college students increasing as the sky grew darker, there were large crowds producing even larger amounts of noise. Gross frat guys under the influence started shouting at you, and you did your best to tell them off- even if your voice wavered a bit. Minho had to deal with his fair share of people drunkenly flirting with him. However, even though most people backed off after you cussed them out, there was a dude in particular that didn’t leave you alone. You stopped to cuss him out several times, but he advanced. Minho suddenly turned around, telling the guy off.

“Dude, fuck off, they already have a boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

Minho quickly leaned and whispered something in your ear, and you nodded, giving him permission for what he was about to do.

“Right here.”

Minho cupped your face, shooting the guy a quick smirk before giving you a deep kiss.

“Alright, man, Jesus, you’re in public.”

Minho held onto your hand as you turned the block, the both of you a bright shade of red, avoiding each other’s gaze under the full moon’s light. As soon as you turned the block. You let go of his hand, nearly throwing it back again. “Gross,” you said, “Never again.”

“Yeah, not the situation I would’ve liked to kiss you in.”

You snorted. “Okay, playboy.”

“I am not!”

“Sure.”

“Is that a challenge?”

You stuck your tongue out at him. “Maybe it is, six-year-old.”

You went back to the hotel, climbing up the old stairs as they creaked. You were tired, but you realized your problems were far from over. The two of you stood in the doorway, staring at the singular bed. “You can sleep on the bed,” you offered, “I’ll just ask for extra comforters.”

“Don't be stupid,” he scoffed, “You afraid of cooties or something?”

“Am not!”

“So sleep on the bed.”

You clenched your fists, “Fine!”

You slept on the opposite side of the bed, nearly falling off the edge of the bed. But as you started to fall asleep, and unconsciously started pulling the comforter off of Minho. It wasn’t until he rolled you out of your cocoon and found yourself face to face with Minho, feeling his breath on your face.

“Stop pulling the comforter,” he said in a raspy voice, “I’m cold.”

“I don’t care,” you whined, “I get cold easily.”

Minho pulled you into his chest, but he was warm- so whatever, the embarrassment is tomorrow you’s problem. And boy, did tomorrow you sure hate yesterday night you.

Day 2

Minho absolutely did not let it go, insisting that the two of you had bonded because you cuddled. “Look, you can’t insult me after we cuddled, your face was like buried in my chest.”

“You’re a big, fat liar. I did not! You were just warm. I get cold easily.”

“Liar! Cuddler deniers don’t deserve rights.”

“What?”

“I said what I said!”

He came into the bathroom as you brushed your teeth, and you glared at him from the mirror. He hugged you from behind, resting his head on your shoulder and you shook to get him off. He pinched your cheeks. “You’re so tiny,” he cooed, “Look at you all flustered.”

“Minho, I will end you.”

“All you do is lie.”

He left the bathroom, returning to watch the tv, and you swore, you swore, that you would not survive another day with him in a cramped hotel room. You checked with a receptionist, much to Minho’s dismay, and asked her when they would be able to find another room. She eyed you carefully, looking at both you and Minho before informing the two of you that they were all booked. And not only that, they were all booked up until the end of the vacation.

“Minho, stop following me.”

“Sure, have fun getting lost and mugged, I’ll be sure to identify your body.”

You looked wide-eyed back at him. “Wait, stop, Minho,” you ran after him as he quickened his pace, “Minho! Google maps isn’t working! Stop running!”

There certainly was an unspoken tension in the room as you sat together, eating breakfast in relative peacefulness. Minho dropped his utensils and stared at you, chin in his hands as he cupped his own face. You sighed, putting down your own utensils. “What is it now, Minho?”

“I didn’t even do anything,” he said, “I’m just admiring the view.”

You choked on air and tried to cover it up, avoiding Minho’s gaze. “Man,” he picked the utensils back up, “It’s almost too easy.”

“Is this because I said you were a playboy?”

“Why? Do you regret it?”

“No, because I’m right.”

The day went on without any trouble, except for the insistent teasing that Minho gave you. You were at the beach, playing volleyball with Minho in a more populated area of the beach. Suddenly, you pulled you into a hug and raised your chin.

“What are you doing?”

“Dude’s staring at you, and neither of us wanna deal with a drunk dude right now.”

“You sound jealous.”

“I am.”

“Wh-”

He let go and threw the ball at you, making you trip as you tried to catch it. Catching volleyballs wasn’t exactly your forte, and you hoped that your future captain would give you some leeway. The rest of the day went smoothly, ending with gelato at the end of the day.

“This ice cream is almost as sweet as you, ___.”

“Shut up- oh wait, that’s actually kinda nice.”

“Have to change my methods if I wanna woo you.”

“There it is.”

You expected Minho to come back to the inn with you, and watch bad reality TV shows, but he didn’t.

“Aw,” he patted your head, “You gonna miss me?”

“Ew, gross,” you swiped his hand, “I just want to know you’re not going to be scamming anyone.” You pulled him closer. “You’re not right?” you added, “C’mon Minho, please.” Uncertainty waved across his face, and he gave you a smile, slightly flustered by your intense eye contact up at him. “Not anymore,” he pecked your head, “I can’t believe I got a cop in my room.” You rubbed your forehead, stunned at his sudden softness.

Without another reference the two of you sat in the bed, watching horrendous reality tv, and just like last night, you fell asleep, head buried in his chest.

Day 5

Still nothing from the receptionist, but it was your last day anyway, both leaving Cancun at 4 in the morning. Minho had woken you up just before sunrise, teasing you for your grip around his torso. This past week, it had become somewhat of a routine. But the teasing didn’t bother you anymore- it started to become endearing.

“You’re attached to me like a Koala.”

“If it bothers you so much, then why don’t you just sleep on the floor?”

“Who said it bothered me?”

“Then why are you complaining?”

He smiled and ruffled your arm, leading you back to the cove. You don’t know why, but something about Minho made you excited, like a school-girl crush, like butterflies in your stomach nervous. You were on his back as he swam, and even though the sun was just rising, the water was still a comfortable temperature. You thought about the past couple of days and recognized that you hadn’t thought about your degree or exams since you’d met Minho. Spending all your waking moment with him wasn’t easy, but it also wasn’t dull. He gave you excitement that you didn’t get except when you were in law-related classes or acting like an annoying civilian. You felt the currents lapping against your body, and Minho was gliding through the deep blue water.

“It’s so pretty,” you murmured, face pressed against the back of his shoulder.

“Prettier than me?”

“Just a little bit.”

“Wow, understandable, but still a little hurt.”

“Aw,” you teased, “You jealous?”

“Oh, please. This cove can’t woo you like I can.”

“You scammed your way into my heart.”

“I haven’t even conned anyone!”

You were approaching shore now, but Minho held onto you. “I want to show you something,” he added, “So just hold on.” You didn’t protest, holding tightly onto him as he climbed up the rock wall. A few minutes of climbing and the pair of you sat together at the cliff’s edge. The sun was peeking through the horizon, it’s apricot color bleeding into the sky and painting it in beautiful warm hues. But there was something hotter than the sun’s rays, and that was Minho’s stare.

“Minho,” you observed, “why are you staring at me?”

“You look divine in this sunlight,” he responded, “That’s why.”

“Not too bad yourself, pretty boy.”

The sun was high up into the sky when Minho got up and grabbed your hand. “Jump.”

“What? Are you insane? Look at how high up we are.”

“It’s safe, I’ve done it so many times! Just trust me.”

He squeezed your hand and smirked, “You scared? I’ll hold your hand.”

“Am not!”

“Jump then!”

“Fine!”

You pulled Minho, not trusting yourself to let go of his hand as you both fell towards the water. You looked at him, slightly terrified but a stupidly big grin spread across both of your faces and you both hit the water. You were still laughing as you broke the water’s surface. Minho came up and pulled you towards him, both hands on your jaw as he kissed you under the warm light, spread out sun rays hitting the water.

“That’s the situation I wanted to kiss you in. Since you won that game, I guess I owe you a date huh? Better give me your number.”

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #stray kids imagines #stray kids fluff #skz imagines #skz fic #skz fluff #skz lee know #lee know #lee know fic #lee know imagines #lee know imagine #skz lee minho #lee minho #lee minho imagines #lee minho imagine #lee minho fic #lee minho fluff

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thewrittenromance · 6 years

Text

Business Card (skinny!Steve Rogers x reader)

Summary: Tony’s ‘medicine’ messed with Steve’s serum and now he has to deal with his insecurities and sudden company!

WordCount: 2047

Warnings: N/A

A/N: N/A

“What the hell is this Stark?” snapped Steve Rogers as he burst into the room. Tony looked up startled and his eyebrows raised even farther up.

“Whoa, what happened here, Rogers? Reverse growth spurt?” But despite his sarcasm, Tony was quite concerned. It could be from-

“That medicine you gave me! You said it should temporarily alter some of the serums affects so it can heal me with more ease and then this? Explain yourself!” Steve shouted, his small frame and his attempt to walk intimidatingly at Stark almost made Tony laugh. Instead he scoffed to cover up his laughter at the sight and focus on the ordeal.

“It should only alter some things, but not..this-” tony said standing, “Let me call Cho, she might be able to help. I’m not a doctor you know.”

Steve went red in the face at that comment, “Are you implying that you did not get medical advice on a medicinal invention you gave me?”

Stark paused, “Maybe- it was to help save your life, Cap!”

“It’s medical experimentation!”

“Oh yeah, like you had any problem with that in the 40’s!” Tony shouted.

Both men stared at each other, Tony was growling and glaring. Steve had his shoulders hunched and his fisted balled in anger. HIs fair complexion looked ruddy and red in his anger.

“Look, I’ll call Cho, we’ll talk, see what we can do. The others are going on the mission later tonight, Vision can stay with you,” Tony sighed going to grab his phone.

Steve crossed his arms and glared as Tony spoke on the phone to Helen Cho and he hung up as quickly as he called.

“I’m going to her lab, we’ll figure something out, Cap, stay in tonight, don’t do...anything stupid,” Tony advised grabbing his other supplies and something from a file cabinet. Who knew he could be organized?

“Oh,” Tony said as he raced out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Steve called going after him.

“I’ve got a designer coming in later today to get some measurement and stuff for the downstairs offices, let them in and show them around, should be coming around three-” Tony shouted already pressing the close doors button on the elevator. Steve slammed his small fist into the doors, “tony!” he shouted to no avail. He groaned, he’d have to hide in his room until they figured all this out. No one would stop asking questions or possibly even make fun of him if they found him like this.

But then there was the designing person, the designer. Steve touched his arm, frail and thin once more, he rubbed at it and quietly made his way to his room. The mirror in the hallway had his catch his reflection. He stared at himself. It was so strange. His clothes were gargantuan on his small body, hanging everywhere. There was probably no clothes anywhere that would fit him well. Even back in the forties, everything was loose on him. His hair flapped over his forehead and he pushed it back as he had always once done. It was all familiar.

Steve finally pulled himself away from the mirror and hid away in his room, doodling old memories the best he could. If he dwelled on his appearance any longer he just knew his old insecurities would come back. And they already were, he was DREADING having to speak with the designer.

Before he realized it, it was three, and Vision knocked on the door to inform him of the designer's arrival. Steve looked up and slowly went to the door. He had to brace himself.

Waiting in the lobby of the tower, stood a woman, dressed in a salmon dress that touched the floor, but it was casual, she had on a blazer and a toolbox in one hand and thick folders in the other.

“Hello, I’m (y/n), i’m here to inspect the offices, from (y/l/n)’s Design Work,” she said formally and shifted the weight of the paper to not get too heavy.

“Yes, of course, ma’am, right this way, would you like me to carry some of those papers for you?” Steve asked he felt his face heat up when the woman eyed him head to toe. Was he THAT skinny that the woman didn’t even think he could carry papers!?

“I-I can carry them,” he started to say firmly but he almost gasped when the papers came flying at them.

“Yes, please, thank you very much, they’re pretty heavy and I carried them two blocks cause that cabbie couldn’t get close enough to the building with parking and all. Hectic out there,” she said and switched the toolbox to her other hand. She looked at him again, he was a small man, blonde, with light colored eyes. She smiled, he must have been an intern or something. He was a much better improvement from the last intern she worked with who’d just been offered a job at the firm she’d been hired to design for. Rude, condescending, and disgustingly sexist.

“Is it?” Steve said attempting to hold the conversation. He struggled to click the elevator button when they got there, he was starting to feel out of breath, what papers did the woman have? Or was the loss of the serum’s effects?

“I got it,” (y/n) said quickly and smacked the button as she stood beside him, “you got the papers I got the buttons.” She smiled at him as the elevator dinged open and she stepped in. Steve stepped in beside her.

“What floor?” (y/n) asked, looking at him again, he was quite the shy one.

“Three,” Steve answered. (y/n) pressed the button and they stood there in comfortable silence. At least to her. Steve itched to make conversation.

“So um, what do you do?” He asked.

(y/n) looked right at him, “what do i do?” She couldn’t help but laugh, he was so awkward it was endearing so far!

“I’m a designer, as you know, I do interior design and graphic design, lots of art stuff, thank god it’s on the more practical side, i was going to do fine arts, but in this economy, yeah right!” (y/n) said her words like a fountain. It was only then that Steve realized she had an accent. He couldn’t place it though. It made sense though, she wasn’t white, she probably did speak a second language!

“I-I like to draw,” was Steve’s response, why did he have to say that? Peggy was right, he had NO idea how to talk to women, even in this day and age.

“Really? Cool, like what? Still life, portrait, anime?” (y/n) said as the elevators opened, she walked briskly out and Steve shuffled out after her from the weight of the papers. Damn the remnants of asthma.

“Portrait and still life mostly,” Steve said out of the breath and then gestured with his head toward one of the offices.

“Nice, I can’t paint a person to save my life, come out looking like a crappy clay sculpture,” (y/n) grinned and waltzed into the office, it was an empty grey room with one desk and chairs piled in a corner.

“Oh god, look at this place, ugh, no one he needed a designer, huh?” (y/n) laughed and pointed to the desk, “go ahead and put the files there, i’m going to start taking the room’s measurements. Wait- is there water around here? I knew i left that water bottle in the cab! Damn it-”

“I’ll go get you a water bottle ma’am,” Steve said quickly.

“(y/n),” She corrected, “call me (y/n), not ma’am, what am i? Fifty? I’m just as young as you honey.”

“Right okay, i’ll be right back,” Steve chuckled. He quickly made his way to the kitchen, this woman was funny and pretty laid back. He kinda liked her. He shook his head. He couldn’t think about that now. Especially not like this. Women never liked him then, he doubted they’d like him now.

He was quick to take the water to (y/n) who thanked him again and downed the bottle in a second. He stared.

“What? It’s warm out and i’m working!” (y/n) defended and grinned before crouching again to measure.

“So,” She asked then, “how do you like working for Stark? Or do you work with Ms. Potts?”

Steve was confused, “excuse me? I dont- work for?”

(y/n) looked up, “You don’t work here? Aren’t you an intern?”

An intern. She thought he was an intern. She didn’t even recognize him either! He had to cover his ass quick.

“Oh, I work with Pepper, she’s uh, much nicer,” Steve replied.

“I bet, she was the one who gave me all of Mr.Stark’s information and details, i wasn’t even able to talk to him on the phone. I thought I’d see him here today to get some more info but, hey what can you do.”

“He’s off doing some research actually, he left in the morning.” “Make sense, do me a favor and pass me the third folder please,” she said pointing to the file pile.

“Thank you,” she chirped as she grabbed the file from him and flipped through it quickly.

“Is that pink?” Steve asked peeking over her shoulder.

“Huh?” (y/n) said startled, she didn’t realize he was that close. She tried to stand but lost her balance and tipped over. She dropped the file, Steve grabbed the file, though its contents still spilled out, but much more importantly, he grabbed her. (y/n) gripped his arm tightly and gladly accepted his help in standing. “Whooph! That was crazy!” (y/n) exclaimed, “give a girl a heart attack will you!” But she was smiling so Steve knew it wasn’t that serious, just an expression.

“Thanks, but I think i’m gonna have to crouch again to pick up all this stuff, don’t leave I might fall again,” she teased and Steve laughed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you ma’am,” Steve said sheepishly. Only to be met by her stern look as she stood up again. They stood nearly eye to eye, though he had to admit, she was still a tad smaller.

“(y/n)!” he nearly shouted. She was taken aback and they stared at one another for quite a long moment before (y/n) doubled over in laughter, it was contagious and they both were laughing uncontrollably now.

(y/n) wiped a tear from her eyes and grinned, “oh man- that was good, i haven’t had a laugh like that in forever.”

Steve was grinning from ear to ear with this woman and he felt genuinely happy. He all but forgot about his situation.

They went quiet again and Steve let her work instead of distracting her. It was barely five when she finished up and he led her quietly down to the lobby and the exit.

She bit her lip and paused as Steve opened the door for her.

“Hey, are you doing anything right? Like..it’s five, and work ends right? Or do you work like real late?”

Steve was surprised, why would she care?

“Um..till late,” he lied.

“Oh okay..well, uh, here, my business card,” she said scribbling something on it, juggling with her toolbox and papers. Steve took it politely, not that he might be in need of her services anytime soon.

“Well, have a good night (y/n),” Steve waved and (y/n) smiled back

“You too, mister- hey, i never got your name! All this time!” “Steve,” he said and she nodded.

“Nice to meet you Steve, may we meet again,” and with that she seemed to hail a cab out of nowhere and she climbed in, giving him one last wave from her seat.

Steve watched the cab go and then looked back to the business card. Her name, her number, her address, email, and hours. On the front side was her business name (y/l/n)’s Design Work and just below it ‘CALL/TEXT ME.’

Steve’s eyes boggled. He nearly fainted in the doorway. He made quick to his room to add her number to his phone. He was definitely going to call her.

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